Homefront

by Scott James Magner

  Once on the other side, Katra felt her perceptions expand to include Jantine’s, and then she heard the Beta’s words in her own voice.

  ~Katra. One hundred meters left.~

  Katra skipped past Carlton as he glided up to Jantine’s position, then she lengthened her strides. It only took a few jumps to reach the next junction, and she used the last one to push off the corridor’s ceiling and then activated her boots. She touched down on one knee in a secure firing position, letting the encounter suit inside the powered armor take the brunt of the impact.

  She looked down both sides of the corridor, comparing what she was seeing to the map projected on her visor. The right passageway ended in another set of doors fifteen meters away, while the left branch curved around a corner and out of sight twenty meters in the other direction.

  ~Clear. Map is accurate. Do you see the indicator?~

  Jason had placed a green dot on the nearer set of doors, indicating it as the most likely route to the lab complex. The corridor was almost five meters wide, and much better maintained than the roughly excavated one she was crouching in.

  ~Yes. Mira, we have a path.~

  ~Copy that. Before he moved out of range, Jason said he’d try to give us door control, and enough advance warning as he could of troop movements. Ykaterina’s estimates have two hundred troopers stationed here, plus an equal number of scientists and a small cadre of fleet officers.~

  Katra noted that Mira had not said "non-combatants." Unlike the Valiant, there would be no innocent casualties here. Just unfortunate ones, and she’d deal with them as they came. There was more than enough ammunition secured about her person to handle that many enemies, but she still longed for the pulsers and energizers they’d left with Artemus to maintain their disguises as troopers.

  But we can’t use them on this op anyway. Might as well wish for Crassus, Jarl, and Malik to return to life.

  Katra felt a vague sense of unease, and she wondered if she’d transmitted that last thought inadvertently. But neither Jantine nor Mira offered any comment, and she dismissed the feeling as what Mira referred to as "the jitters." She felt exposed like this, carrying around an extra hundred kilos of gear and unable to use her active camouflage. But this was the mission, and she’d carry it out to the best of her ability.

  A red light flashed on her visor, and at first Katra was unsure what Jason was trying to tell her. Words appeared, and the jitters doubled:

  INCOMING COMM TRANSMISSION.

  She recognized the voice instantly, even though she’d only heard it once before. And despite her earlier statements, Katra felt very real hatred come through the link from Mira, a sentiment she had no problem sharing.

  "Hello, Miss Harlan. I don’t know what you and your gennie friends did to our cams and internal sensors, but there are only so many places you can hide before I’ll find you and put an end to this ill-advised mutiny of yours. Enjoy what life you have left, and here’s a little something to watch while you wait. Be seeing you."

  Though she had never seen Captain Horace Kołodziejski’s face, Katra imagined it was wearing a smug grin. A vid image appeared on half her visor, and she imagined filling that face with a few hundred micro-slugs.

  A tall, dark-skinned human wearing a uniform like Carlton’s was leaning over a sleeping mod attached to a tangled web of monitoring devices. He touched something to the mod’s skin, then backed away quickly. Katra saw the shimmer of a transparent shield on the human’s face, but her attention was drawn immediately to the mod on the table when the sound of the devices changed from a sedate, rhythmic beeping to a screaming staccato.

  Black veins rose under the mod’s skin, and he sat up screaming. Katra gasped when his forehead split open, revealing half a dozen black and vaguely eyelike growths. Then his chest burst open, heart and lungs extending outward on a blackened arm of flesh.

  Mercifully, the screaming stopped, and the mod slumped forward over his legs. The devices switched over to a continuous tone, but the horror had not yet ended. The body kept twitching for several more seconds, skin cracking open over the veins and oozing dark fluid.

  "Two hundred and ninety-three more to go, Miss Harlan. See you soon."

  Katra dropped her rifle and removed her helmet just in time to avoid filling it with vomit. Luna’s lower gravity sent her vomit bouncing everywhere, but she didn’t care. All that mattered to her now was surviving long enough to reach the human in the vid and kill him with his own poisons.

  Katra spat the remnants of her last meal from her mouth and used alternating fingers to blow her nose. When she was done, she heard something moving behind her, and she grabbed her rifle as she spun around to face it. But she misjudged the distance and forgot that her boots were magnetically locked to the metal floor. The rifle went sliding forward on a tide of vomit, leaving her empty-handed and on her back, staring up into Carlton’s shocked face.

  ~He doesn’t know. Mira, don’t share that transmission with Carlton! He can’t know that his—~

  The three-way link dissolved before Katra could finish her warning, but over the direct connection she had with Mira came a painful jumble of images and feelings. Arid landscapes, lightless caves, and the taste of something sweet and frozen spun around a male Earther face that she never could make out before it faded away into another memory.

  A fresh wave of nausea punished her chest, and as she lay coughing, Carlton’s eyes went wide behind the transparent lenses of his breather. The Beta had climbed down from the mobile unit and was kneeling beside her, turning her head to the side. Katra caught a glimpse of Jantine bounding up the corridor before a new series of images began whirling inside her head.

  Loss and pain Katra could deal with, she’d known more than enough of both in her short life. But there was something deeper binding Mira and the Earther together, and every time she caught a glimpse of his face it got worse. Finally, Mira returned to the images of the mod’s death, but instead of the body on the table, she was focused on the dark-skinned man.

  Katra watched as a lifetime of faces stacked together: smiles and frowns and shouts and ecstatic utterances. She felt content and scared and resolved and unhappy, until the faces solidified into a cruel glare of hate hidden behind a shimmering mask.

  Jarl died in her heart all over again, but this time it was much worse. It was as if Jarl was on the table, while Horace Kołodziejski’s mocking voice rang in her ears.

  Mira’s emotions vanished from Katra’s head, leaving behind the deepest disappointment she’d ever known. But what confused her wasn’t the sentiment; it was Mira’s mental lament.

  ~Oh, Tommy. How could you?~

  Serene

  ~. . . DON’T CARE IF IT’S SAFE OR NOT, GET HER OUT of there. . .~

  Serene’s eyes widened at the first thoughts she’d detected in many minutes, and at the thumping sound that came through the top of the mobile unit. It was peaceful inside the doubled obfuscation of biohazard bag and isolation chamber, and for the first time since she’d awakened from deep sleep, she was alone with her own thoughts.

  Mostly alone. The memory shards in her head were urging her to practice mental defenses, but all Serene wanted to do was play. Little Mirabelle Harlan was her favorite shard, and the two girls had danced in virtual sunlight often since the mission started.

  Serene felt bad about having stolen the Gamma memories from Mira, especially since the longer she had them, the more indistinguishable they became from her own. Jason and O-6913 didn’t want to tell Mira the process was irreversible, since it shouldn’t have been possible for the human to get them in the first place. But as the hours and days went on, Serene knew that to rid herself of them would likely kill her.

  And I so very much want to live.

  The murmuring almost-voices in her head went silent, waiting for more input to start formulating Serene’s next actions. From what Serene could tell from Doria’s memories, the shards hadn’t been this insistent with her, but the Gamma had also had a first c
lass crèche system on Colony D preparing her for her role as a facilitator.

  That was supposed to be us. Our colony, mine and L-A-197’s. The first one attempted after the Earthers exiled us.

  According to Commodore Maranova and Captain Martin’s files, L-A-197 had died a year ago, most likely somewhere here in Chimera base. With so many other people in her head, it was hard to remember his features, but that didn’t make her miss him any less. All she could summon were vague impressions, which kept forming themselves into images of Mira’s father.

  ~—st do it, Carlton. We can’t get the unit through this room anyway . . .~

  The thoughts had no real "voice" to them, but Serene thought they were Jantine’s. They didn’t have the guarded chill she was used to in the Beta’s mind, but Katra was much more direct in her statements and rarely dwelled on her words before speaking.

  And Mira shouts all the time. Still, I should thank her for being able to hear them at all. I won’t thank her for the headaches, though. Those are no fun at all!

  There was a hissing sound above her, and the pleasant darkness outside her bag became a murky gray. A mod-shaped shadow broke the homogeny, but from the nature of its thoughts she already knew it was Carlton.

  A very, very nervous Carlton.

  "What’s wrong? What’s happened?" Serene said.

  Her voice was muffled by the emergency breather, but as Carton undid the seals on the hazard bag and lifted her out, the device fell away to the floor. Serene watched it drop lazily to the sterile metal panels, then bounce up nearly to his knees.

  Wherever they were, it was cold and dark and a little bit scary. She clung tightly to Carlton until he set her down on the floor, and it took a few seconds to pick out Jantine, Katra, and Mira’s thoughts from the humming machinery around them.

  When Carlton didn’t answer her, the Gamma memories decided he either hadn’t understood or didn’t want to tell her. One of the shards suggested disciplining him for his lack of obedience, but Doria’s counseled patience.

  "Carlton, what’s going on? Where are we?" Serene asked.

  Her voice was louder than she’d intended it to be, but she didn’t detect anyone else present besides Mira and the mods. There was something else nearby, though, something almost as omnipresent as the humming.

  "We’ve found the sleepers," Carlton whispered. "Most of them, anyway. Jason’s trying to get an accurate count now, but he and Artemus are having a bit of difficulty with O-6913."

  His words let her put meaning to the shapes surrounding them. The containers were far too small to be the sleeper units she was familiar with, but the deep, unformed dreams of those within resonated inside her. These were Carlton’s people, and somewhere in the darkness were some of his crèche siblings.

  Carlton’s excitement was tempered by fear, but his thoughts were unreadable. Sometime in the last few hours, Mira must have helped him with his control. Doria approved, several of the shards tsked, and a few others let their appreciation of Carlton’s fine jawline momentarily cloud their judgment.

  Serene pushed away all the other voices in her head save for Mirabelle, who really never left. What she wanted to say was nothing any stern, half-remembered mentor could help her with, but having a friend "nearby" made her less afraid.

  But still, I have to ask.

  "Are any of them my people?"

  Carlton’s emotions shifted to a dull shame tinged with dread, and she knew his whispered answer before he gave it. Despite days of close contact, the Beta still wouldn’t look her directly in the eyes. In fact, he was looking pointedly away from her face.

  "I don’t think so, Serene. From what I understand, the units are all the same."

  It was a slim hope, if any. She knew that the humans had only found two viable suspension chambers in the wreck, but they did like to keep secrets. She nodded and held up her hand to Carlton.

  The Beta stared at the floor, uncertain as to what he was supposed to do. She folded her fingers into her palm several times, and sent him an image of herself holding his hand while they walked. Carlton shrugged and took her hand, but was neither pleased nor displeased to have physical contact with an Alpha.

  So very different, this century. So much to learn.

  Carlton led her carefully through the maze of units, pausing briefly at each one to scan its ID code. As they walked, Serene felt Jantine and Katra’s emotions getting stronger, but nothing from Mira.

  This made her frown, and Carlton must have noticed. His fear increased slightly, adding her possible displeasure to his ever–growing list of worries.

  "What’s wrong, Serene?"

  Serene had several answers at the ready, but the one she most wanted to give was one she was sure he wouldn’t understand. She wanted to speak directly with Mira’s mind and gain some mature context, but the woman had closed herself off completely.

  Serene settled on her third most pressing problem.

  "I still don’t know what’s going on. Why are we being so careful?"

  Carlton knelt down beside her. At first she thought he was finally going to talk to her as an equal the way Mira and Jantine did, but instead he rubbed away a spot of grease from a metal plate to reveal a mod designation.

  Serene wanted an answer to her question, and the longer she had to wait, the more the memory shards directed her actions. She sent a probe at the sleeper’s mind, surprised at how easy it was to decipher his true identity. The plate gave her his designation, but with the shards’ help, she learned his identity much faster than Carlton could access the colony manifest through his handheld.

  "TRN-G272489-A prefers to be called Trahn. Agricultural workers should not be your concern right now. What are you not telling me, Carlton?"

  Serene’s voice rose as she spoke. Not quite to a normal conversational level, but enough to indicate she was serious. Carlton’s fear jumped to the front of his mind, and she caught a glimmer of his thoughts as he hurried to answer her question.

  ~—at am I supposed to do? Mira, can you hear me? Hello?~

  "The humans know we’re here, but not exactly where. Jantine wants us to be as careful as possible until we can secure this area."

  Serene gave Carlton a hard stare, fighting the urge to force him into a straight answer. In the end, she borrowed from both Doria’s and Mirabelle’s memories for the right response.

  "Carlton, you’re scaring me. Please tell me what it is that you are afraid of. It’s all right, I won’t be angry with you."

  Before the Beta could answer, a sound from the darkness sent his fear to new heights. She caught a terrifying image of a giant machine crawling on the ceiling, and of herself running as fast as she could from whatever else was hiding beyond the next row of sleepers.

  But that fear was tempered by the arrival of Katra, who held out her right hand to Serene without lowering the Earther weapon in her left. It bothered her a little that Carlton was almost as afraid of the Gamma as the killer machine in his memory, but then she realized it was the powered armor Katra had on over her encounter suit.

  He thinks she’s an Earther!

  Then Katra’s faceplate lit up from within, and Serene could see her smiling. All the voices in her head save for Doria and Mirabelle were on a high state of alert, and Katra’s carefully modulated words did nothing to calm either them or Carlton.

  "Come with me, Serene. Carlton, Jantine says this room is secure. Get started."

  Doria’s memories helpfully supplied that Gamma infiltrators spent more time in their encounter suits than any other mod, and even wearing an Earther hardsuit over it, Katra was probably capable of some amazing feats. Mirabelle just wanted to put one on herself.

  Serene didn’t want to leave, not until she had an answer from Carlton. Mirabelle supplied an image of planting her feet and refusing to move, but Katra’s gentle tug got Serene’s feet moving, and rather than be dragged along, Serene hurried to keep up.

  ~Katra, what is Carlton afraid to tell me?~

  It
was much easier to speak directly to Katra’s mind than to use words. Mira, real Mira, had said it was because Katra had a "highly developed super-ego."

  ~He doesn’t know for sure. We haven’t told him what we saw, but purpose of this base is to experiment on mods, and that frightens him.~

  Serene pondered this for a few seconds, with the Gammas screaming in her head for more.

  ~Show me.~

  Katra obliged her instantly, supplying not only the horrifying image of the human injecting the mod but also the effect it had had on Mira.

  Several things Carlton had said made more sense now, especially if his unconscious intuition was working toward the truth Katra had just revealed. If the three soldiers had been shutting him out, he was bound to know something was going on, and it was only a matter of time before he figured it out.

  ~He’s almost there now. Was there something special about that mod? And have the Builders seen this?~

  Katra and Serene emerged from between two sleeper units to see Jantine and Mira crouching on either side of a clear pressure door. In the room beyond, the human from Katra’s memory was standing in front of a workstation and looking in the other direction. Serene felt nothing from him, but she had access to Mira’s memories, and knew much more about him than sight alone could tell her.

  Thomas Sullivan Watson. Mira’s Tommy. And given what he did in the transmission Katra shared with me, I can understand part of why Mira is so upset right now.

  Jantine and Mira crouched at the door, and Serene could tell from their thoughts that they were ready to rush in. Beside her, Katra crouched down to Serene’s height, and looked at the Alpha for several seconds before her visor went dark. In those moments, Serene saw that the Gamma’s smile had changed, and her thoughts now had a distant feel to them.

  ~Yes, and yes. We’re about to deal with both, provided Carlton can get us a little bit of backup.~