Jordan and AX.
Jordan and AX?
That was something even he could not have foreseen. He almost smiled. “My congratulations,” he said.
Jordan shrugged. “Thanks? What do you want?”
Uzochi took a seat, uninvited, and looked intently at Jordan. “I need to do a search. Of Zorica’s mind. She holds secrets she is unaware of to do with the identity of the thing. I must seek them out.”
“So why are you talking to me?” Jordan asked.
“Because you are a Seeker After Truth. I will find what I seek faster with your help.”
“My help to…what exactly? Plunder Zorica’s mind like a mine?”
Uzochi lowered his eyes. “It is a more delicate endeavor than that. We do not seek to destroy her mind, simply to delicately extract the specific information we need. That is why you are crucial.”
Jordan sighed. “Have you even asked her if she would agree to this?”
Uzochi shook his head. “I wanted to obtain your agreement first.”
“Fine. If Zorica allows it, I am game.”
Uzochi nodded at the Earth man. “Thank you.”
∞
As soon as Zorica was discharged from the medlab, she hastened to seek Epone out. She found her in the archives, of course, researching the history of Five.
“I am in danger,” she whispered without preamble, coming to a stop beside Epone, her eyes restlessly scanning the room.
“I am aware,” Epone said, not looking up from the tablet she was studying. “Is it time to go?”
“I think so. I don’t know. The captain was making a report to the Federation. He will tell them that I healed.”
“They will want you.”
“Yes,” Zorica whispered urgently, fear apparent in every pore. “I think the captain can be turned. He might aid us. We will not get very far on our own. The Federation has vast resources.” She winced. “But how will we get him to do that?”
Epone looked up, amusement on every line of her face. “He is enamored of you, Z. Don’t you know?”
Zorica shook her head. “Of course I knew! How will that help us to-?”
“You must seduce him,” Epone said, rolling her eyes as she interrupted Zorica.
Zorica merely stared for a moment. “But what about the rest of the crew? I cannot seduce them all.”
Epone smiled. “We will play up the loyalty angle the captain has introduced. We will tell them what the Federation will do to you if we surrender you. We will say they must put the crew first if we are to be a team.”
Zorica was breathing hard, eyes frantic. It was difficult to think. “Will they fall for it?” she asked.
“We will make them,” Epone said. “If they need a little help to fall in line, we will provide it.”
Zorica slumped on the seat next to Epone, for the first time, taking in the scrolls and tablets strewn on the table. “What is all this?” she asked.
“Knowledge is always power. There is much knowledge here.”
“Knowledge about what?”
Epone handed her a scroll. “The Federation. And its inner workings.”
They locked eyes, speaking without words.
“What are they doing here?”
Epone inclined her head. “Ash says this was an outpost of the First Migration. I think that they carried these here to preserve them, in case the threat of extinction became reality.”
“But it did not. How have they not come for these?”
“I expect they forgot. I see no other explanation. A lot of this data is only offline. There are no digital remasters; I have searched the cloud discreetly. There are only these.”
“But they are copies. Somewhere, the originals exist.”
Epone moved documents around for a while before presenting her with a document. “Indeed there are.”
Zorica’s eyes widened. “The Stits have them?”
Epone merely smiled.
∞
Ash injected an ampoule of Zorica’s blood, purified so it was mostly antibodies, into the portion of infected Stits tail she’d acquired from the battlefield. Conditions were not ideal. The tail was no longer attached to its living body so results would be skewed at best. Right now, she had only one question and she wanted to see if this might give her the answer.
She carefully wiped at the surface of the scaly skin and then injected the blood product directly into the still pulsing black veins. The reaction was startling in its speed. Bubbling black goo immediately began to ooze out of the veins, with equally bubbly pulses zooming up and down tail portions within the veins. The hue of the tail’s skin changed from sickly grey to blinding white in minutes. For a moment, Ash was afraid the tail was about to explode. Then the light faded away and an ordinary Stits tail lay flat in the insulating glass encased container she’d put it in to carry out the experiment.
Ash waited with bated breath to see what would happen next.
Nothing did. The tail continued to lay unmoving within its container, the black veins slowly bubbling into oblivion.
At least she had one answer.
Zorica’s blood definitely interacted with the virus in the most violent manner. To really understand how it interacted, she would need more test subjects; and a lot more virus. And she needed it from a live subject.
Ash sighed, thinking hard about what her options were.
∞
Jaime walked into the medlab, and made straight for Ash.
“Hello,” he said, nervously.
She looked up at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.
“What can I do for you, captain?”
“I need a full report on Zorica. Her infection, the course of her treatment, recovery, everything.”
Ash looked away. “Of course. I figured you might need that data. I sent it to your comm. device as soon as I woke up.”
“Oh really. That’s very…efficient, Ash. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me.” Ash still wasn’t looking at him so Jaime patted the table and turned to leave.
“Captain?” Ash said from behind him. Jaime turned to look at her.
“Yes Ash.”
“Are we going to go to the Federation hospital? To give them our findings?”
“I haven’t decided yet, Ash. There are many factors to consider.”
“Like the fact that they might take Zorica to experiment on?” Ash still hadn’t lifted her head from the console as she asked these questions.
Jaime took a step closer to her. “Yeah, like that.”
Ash nodded. “Perhaps you should send an envoy instead. Who can give a report and receive instructions.”
“Or we could just send the report from here…”
“They are likely to summon you if you do that. But with an envoy, they might be satisfied with a verbal report.”
“I doubt it. And who would I send?”
Ash turned to face him at last. “I can go.”
Jaime couldn’t hide the surprise he felt at that. Ash had never volunteered herself for anything before. It made him think she might have an ulterior motive. And then he felt bad for thinking that. She was stepping up and that was a good thing.
“I’ll think about it,” he said with a nod at her, before turning to leave the room once again. He needed to speak with Zorica, and lay out all the facts. It was her life on the line. She had the right to make a decision as to what should be their next move.
His comm. beeped again; very likely another message from command central. It was unusual to receive so many messages while presumed out on a mission. As far as the Federation knew, they were deep in enemy territory, getting intel. Jaime felt relatively safe ignoring these messages. Maybe not for much longer. Clearly the general expected a report soon; and if he didn’t get one, Jaime and his crew might not like the consequences. He needed to make up his mind, and fast.
∞
The change in air press
ure as the medlab door slid open was the only warning Ash had before AX was standing by her side, looking down at her notes. She blacked the screen out but suspected that it was already too late.
“Interesting times,” AX said.
Ash looked at him in surprise. It was not like the AI to make casual observations. Her yellow eyes met Matthias’ brown ones and she understood.
“Doctor,” she said, inclining her head in acknowledgement.
“Healer,” Matthias said, inclining his head at her as well. “Are you going to tell me about your latest experiments?”
Dr. Teke’s eyes flashed bright blue and then back to brown; a warning perhaps or a sign – that he could get into her notes anytime he wanted. The team valued the AI very highly for his hacking skills after all.
Ash sighed, reaching behind her to remove the camouflage that disguised the container holding her sample Stits tail as part of the wall. She turned, gesturing for the doctor to take a look. He stepped closer, eyes narrowed as he studied the tail.
“You got it from the infected one?”
“Yes.”
“And…?”
“Injected it with 5cc purified Zorica antibodies, observed for three hours. Initial effervescence of black goo was observed, followed by elimination. Skin hue cycling from dull grey to blinding white and back to golden brown. Finally, thirty minutes ago, it turned to this,” Ash said gesturing at the tail that had somehow grown a head, and limbs and was shifting around like some sort of prehistoric tadpole.
“So, the blood is not just a healer, it is a transformer?”
“I need a larger sample size,” Ash said, turning to look Dr. Teke in the eyes, her meaning perfectly clear.
Blue eyes gleamed back at her before they went back to brown. “Indeed we do,” he agreed.
Chapter Twenty-One: Data Collection
Jaime knocked softly on Zorica’s door.
“Come in,” he heard before opening the door slightly to stick his head in.
“Hi,” he said, feeling suddenly shy.
Zorica stood up from where she was reading at her desk. “Hello. Do come in and stop hovering at the door,” she said with a smile.
Jaime nodded, stepping into her room and closing the door behind him. Their quarters in Five were quite impersonal, seeing as it was at best a temporary stop, but Zorica’s walls were decorated with sigils and signs that Jaime did not know. He figured they were either protective or summoning magic probably infernal for all he knew. He looked back at Zorica, remembering that under the stunning woman was a dangerous savant with dark creatures at her beck and call. He took a deep breath and laid the report down on the desk in front of her.
“I want to talk to you about this.”
Zorica was staring at him, silver eyes flashing with something that looked like fear or trepidation. “Alright,” she said.
Jaime sighed and began to lay it all out for her. Uzochi’s prophecy, and his recommendation, the fact that they had seen her be infected by the thing and her subsequent healing. His quandary as to what to do about it…
“If this is indeed a contagion, and you are the source of a cure, what is our obligation to the Federation? We joined the GF to save lives did we not?”
Zorica made a sound of dissent and Jaime lifted his eyebrows at her.
“Well, most of us joined to save our own lives,” she said.
“Semantics. We are a squadron of the Galactic Federation and we are holding information that is crucial to the survival of citizens of that Federation. However, I do not wish to put your life in danger and it may well be, should we go back.”
Zorica’s shoulders slumped. “So what is your suggestion?” she asked.
“I’m thinking that we could send an envoy with the information. Maybe move out into deeper space as we await our next instructions.”
“And if the next instructions are to deliver me at once to the Federation HQ, then what?” Zorica said, leaning in to look Jaime deep in his eyes. He looked away, faint flush staining his cheeks in his agitation.
“I don’t know, Zorica. That’s why I’m here, discussing this with you.”
“We could…perhaps, send a sample of my blood with your envoy. Perhaps they would be satisfied with that?”
Jaime bit his lip, thinking furiously. “I don’t know.”
“That is all I am willing to give Jaime. I will not give my life for them.”
Jaime nodded. “I understand.”
“Have you even spoken to anyone about being an envoy? Perhaps no one would like to volunteer.”
“Ash already did.”
Zorica’s eyes narrowed. “She did?”
“Yes. I found it surprising too.”
They eye balled each other for a moment.
“You think she has an ulterior motive?” Zorica asked.
“I cannot imagine what it would be.”
Zorica snorted. “Well, whatever it is; it beats the alternative. I say let her go.”
Jaime nodded. “Okay,” he said and stood up.
“Oh, are you going already?” Zorica asked in surprise.
Jaime hesitated. “Yes. That’s all I needed to ask.”
Zorica merely stared at him for a while. “Okay then,” she said at last.
“I will see you at the mess later.”
“Yes, sir.”
∞
“I didn’t even have to seduce him. He suggested it to me,” Zorica told Epone.
Epone nodded slowly. “Indeed. He is more enamored of you than I realized. You must not give him reason to change his mind.”
“I’m not stupid, Ep.”
“I know you’re not. I know you are wise and wily. But it might take more than that to get your way this time. It may take real reciprocation.”
Zorica covered Epone’s hand with hers on the cover of the bed. “I’m not sure I can do that.”
Epone turned her hand in Zorica’s and squeezed. “You can. You have not come this far to be defeated now.”
Zorica sighed. “I like him well enough but…”
“But…” Epone repeated with perfect understanding.
A knock at the door had them both turning, and then their eyebrows lifted in twin surprise when AX peered into the room.
“Well this is a surprise,” Zorica said.
AX stepped in, his eyes brown. “I just wanted to come and see how you were doing. You are well now?”
Zorica’s already wide eyes widened further. “I did not know you cared.”
AX took another step into the room, smiling at them both. “I am a scientist. I would be at least curious, don’t you think?”
“So, you’re here for data?”
“I am here for information. I would like to know what you know of your…condition.”
“I know nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Zorica shrugged. “Nothing you don’t already know.”
“And what do you think I know?”
“Everything that has been entered into any database about me?”
AX laughed and both Epone and Zorica jumped in startlement. They had never really heard the hybrid make such a sound.
“You flatter me, or yourself.”
Epone and Zorica just continued to stare at him, grinning at them.
“So you’re saying you haven’t hacked all my medical records?”
AX pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat on it. “Of course I hacked all your medical records. But you are savant. You are a demon worshiper. I have no doubt you can modify your records any time you choose.”
It was Zorica’s turn to laugh. “You give me too much credit.”
“Do I?” AX’s eyes gleamed blue, brightening until Zorica and Epone had to blink and look away. His eyes faded to brown and the mad scientist was smiling at them.
Zorica shook her head at him, still bemused at this new smiling hybrid.
“What happened to y
ou?” she asked.
AX shrugged. “I achieved something I never thought possible for me.”
“What did you achieve?”
AX simply maintained the Mona Lisa expression he was sporting.
“In any case, that’s not what’s important here. We cannot function on compartmentalized information. Too many people are keeping secrets.”
“And you know them all?”
AX shook his head. “Not me.”
“Who then?”
“The Seeker of Truth, who else?”
Zorica and Epone exchanged astonished glances. “And he told you?” Epone asked.
AX just continued to smile.
“Okay Mr. Enigmatic, tell us what you know and we will tell you what we know. This is an exchange of information right?”
AX nodded. “That’s right.”
Another knock at the door had them all tensing but Zorica was not surprised to see Uzochi step in the room.
“Maybe we should take this conversation to the mess,” she said.
AX stood up at once. “Yes, let us do that. Let’s gather everyone and let’s talk.”
Epone stood up. “Gather the rest. Let’s parlay.”
∞
Jaime sat in the command center, trying to compile a report that skated the line between telling outright lies and not implicating any of his team in anything that might get them in harm’s way. Well…even more in harm’s way than they already were. A soft knock had him blacking out his screen before calling for whoever it was to come in.
“Captain? Epone has called for parlay in the mess.”
“Parlay? Are we at war?” Jaime joked with a smile.
“Yes,” Zorica said, her face serious.
Jaime’s eyes widened in bewilderment.
“Just come with me, Jaime.”
Jaime stood up and followed Zorica to the mess where everyone else was gathered, seated at the round table. Epone, Uzochi and AX sat on the curved bench while Jordan and Ash had pulled chairs over to sit on the opposite side of them. Zorica moved to the tail end of the table, leaving the nominal head for Jaime.
He walked slowly to his spot, looking at his entire team, his gaze speculative. “I guess it’s time,” he said.
“Yes, it is,” Jordan said.
Mage Marine Misfits: Book 01 Page 17