Anomaly on Cerka
Page 4
“Shit,” Jessica muttered. “And here we were having a night out.”
The detective cast her an understanding glance. “Trust me, if half what I hear is true, you and yours pull your weight. I don’t begrudge you a night off.”
“Me either!” Cheeky exclaimed.
They stopped at the door, and Alla looked to the corporal standing on the right side. “Any issues?”
“No, ma’am,” the man said. “She hasn’t moved a muscle. Cool as a cucumber in there—so far as we can tell, at least.”
Alla turned to Jessica. “I guess our sensor systems in the room can’t really get much of a read on her. She shows up fine on optical and IR, but try as they might, the most the sensors can do is pick up skin temp and blood pressure. She gives off almost no other EM. It looks like she has no mods.”
“That’s interesting,” Jessica mused. “What’s the protocol?”
“Well, there’s not really room enough in there for a whole party. Why don’t you and I both go in and see what she has to say?”
Jessica glanced back at the other three women with her. Cheeky was leaning up against the wall, eyeing the corporal, while Iris said, “I’m tapping your optics.”
“Oh, I want in on that,” Jinx added.
“I’ll put the feed on our channel,” Jessica replied with a shake of her head. “Busybodies.”
“Jess,” Iris deadpanned. “We’re AIs. We are doing half a dozen things right now and still feel bored. I just solved two cases that detectives were working on as we walked through the main room back there.”
“I helped on one,” Jinx added. “The one guy had the ship’s engine burn profile all wrong in his statement. Stank to high heaven.”
“Shit,” Alla chortled. “You two want a job?”
“Hell no,” Iris added. “Keeping Jess’s purple hiney attached to her body is pretty much a full-time job as it is. But we’ll help while we’re here.”
Iris waved to Jinx, and the two AIs walked down the passage to where a group of detectives were standing next to a door, shaking their heads.
Cheeky glanced at them, and then back at the corporal. “Well, I got your Link ident. You ping me when you’re free, kay?”
The man laughed. “I’m already trying to swap shifts.”
“Cheeky!” Jessica admonished her pilot, smiling to show she was only half serious.
“What? That club was a bust, but I’ll be damned if I don’t end tonight without one date arranged,” Cheeky replied with a wink.
The pilot ambled down the corridor to join Iris and Jinx, while Alla gave a bemused sigh. “Quite the crew you run with.”
“More like family than crew,” Jessica replied. “Most of us have been together for two decades.”
Alla laughed. “Then you’re not family, because any family I know would have murdered one another after just five years on a ship that small.”
Jessica only laughed, but she stilled her voice as the detective opened the door.
Even before it was open wide enough to see the occupant, a voice called out from within, “What’s the craic?”
Jessica had already pushed a nanocloud into the room and had been watching the woman for the last minute. Even so, she took a moment to take her in once she and Alla entered.
The first thing about her—and it was impossible to ignore—was her long, bright red hair. If it wasn’t plain for Jessica to see that the woman was unmodded, she would have thought it was glowing.
She continued to take in the woman, noting her green eyes and slightly pointed chin. Her body was clad in a white shipsuit that Jessica made a note to scan carefully so she could replicate it at some point.
Detective Alla was right. So far as Jessica could tell, there was no EM coming from the woman’s head, but her shipsuit possessed some tech—though it wasn’t from anywhere around the Virginis System.
However, what was most interesting was that the woman sat leaning back in her chair, one leg crossed over the other, with her hands resting on her thighs. That in and of itself wasn’t strange, it was the open pair of binders sitting on the table before her that made the woman’s pose interesting.
“Inside joke,” Jessica finally said in reply to the woman’s question.
“Corporal, why isn’t this woman in binders?” the detective called out through the still slightly open door.
He popped his head back in. “But she… I… Oh,” he replied, seeing the redhead without them on.
She raised her hands in the air and wiggled them about with a playful smile on her face. “Tadaa,” she sang.
“Don’t worry about it, close the door,” Jessica said, glancing at the corporal.
“Of course,” he replied with a perplexed expression on his face as he complied.
“So,” Jessica continued, about to ask her first question, when the woman spoke up, interrupting her.
“You’re very purple,” she said with an eyebrow raised.
Jessica eyed the suspect for a moment before continuing. “The information I have says that your name is Amanda-Jane Page, and you’re looking for Tanis Richards.”
Amanda rose and stretched out her hand, smiling brightly. “That I am, Miss…?”
Jessica regarded the redhead’s hand for a moment then shrugged and reached out to shake it. Worse came to worst, she could fire her electron beam and blow off the strange woman’s hand should she try anything.
“General Keller,” Jessica said, then nodded to her right. “And that’s Detective Alla.”
Amanda gave Jessica’s hand a single shake and then reached out for Alla’s. The detective reluctantly shook, and then pulled out her chair, sitting down, Jessica and Amanda following suit.
“Well…” Amanda said as she settled back into her prior pose. “A detective and a general! I’m certainly moving in the right direction.”
“What do you know about Admiral Richards?” Jessica asked.
“Admiral? Well, I suppose she might have been, she did have a few stars on her uniform…. Well, whatever, we shared a drink and some stories a while back.”
“And when was that?” Jessica asked.
“Oh…” Amanda tapped a finger on her chin. “I don’t know, about a year ago?”
Jessica’s brow rose in skepticism. “You were in New Canaan a year ago?”
Amanda shook her head. “New Canaan? In Connecticut? No, I was in New York, on Earth… mostly.”
Cheeky laughed.
Iris groaned.
“OK, Amanda,” Detective Alla’s voice was cool and emotionless. “Just tell us where you met Admiral Richards.”
“To be sure. We met in BOB’s Bar.”
“Wait, whoa, what?” Jessica sputtered. “You know Bob? The Bob?”
This time it was Amanda who fixed Jessica with a curious stare. “Well, there’re a lot of Bobs around, what do you mean by the Bob? This Bob was a little different, admittedly, him being a robot an’ all, but nothing that special.”
“Weird,” Jessica muttered. “Though I guess it’s a bit of a common name. So, where was this bar?”
Amanda pursed her lips. “You know…that’s a really good question. I feel like that’s something Tanis should be the one to share with you, though. You’re not likely to buy it from me.”
“Is that right?” Jessica glanced at Alla, who only shrugged in response.
alized her skin had begun to glow as she became more frustrated, and tamped it back down as much as she could.
“You know, Tanis was able to do some rather impressive things with her modifications and nano, but she didn’t glow.”
Jessica smirked at the idea of Tanis glowing, but as much as Amanda seemed to have a fun sense of humor, this conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
“No, she wouldn’t. It’s nothing like that.” Jessica shook her head. “My body is suffused with an alien microbe that has the photosynthetic properties of chlorophyll and retinal. It absorbs light and gives off my lovely purple hue. I can also tap into it for energy if I need to.”
“Alien?” Alla asked, her eyes growing wide.
“Don’t worry, it’s not something you can catch.” Jessica leant forward and placed her hands on the table. “Sorry, detective, I don’t think I can take this one off your hands. Hopefully we’ve been more help than trouble tonight, though.”
Alla nodded. “You saved Dale’s life and took a shot at Red here. We’re in your debt.”
“You’re here with Cheeky, aren’t you? The blonde in the fetching white bikini, standing out in the hall?” Amanda suddenly asked, a mischievous look twinkling in her eyes.
“Why don’t you ask Cheeky about the time she and Tanis went out for some drinks on…what was it…the PetSil Mining Platform, or some such place?”
“I know you’re talking to her,” Amanda said, peering intently at Jessica. “I can’t yet figure out what you’re saying, though—you have some impressive encryption algorithms.”
“Ask her…” Amanda’s voice trailed off for a moment, clearly in deep thought. “Ask her about what she was doing when Tanis was fighting that guy…shite…Maverick!” she said, snapping her fingers as she remembered. “Ask her what she was doing when Tanis was fighting Maverick with his plasma sword—well, he had the plasma sword at first, and she had a chair, if I remember it right.”
Jessica pursed her lips, boring her gaze into Amanda’s eyes.
“Well?” Amanda asked.
Jessica prompted.
“Did she just tell you she was sucking on someone’s feet?” Amanda asked. “I recall Tanis saying something like, ‘she had half this guy’s foot in her mouth’, or something along those lines.”
Jessica said, trying not to laugh at the mental image of Tanis in a pitched battle while Cheeky had half a foot in her mouth.
Some jokes were going to come from that one.
“She corroborates your story,” Jessica finally replied to Amanda.
“That’s good, it would have been a real shame if Tanis had made that up. So, is there any way you can contact Tanis? I need to talk to her.”
“We have a way,” Jessica allowed, suddenly deciding that whatever this woman was up to, it would be far better to get her away from here and onto Sabrina. They could get her into a stasis pod if things got really strange.
“Great! How do we do it?”
“We have to go to our ship,” Jessica replied, and glanced at Detective Alla. “Looks like I’m taking this one off your hands after all.”
Alla took a second to reply to Jessica. “Stars, General Keller…I don’t know if I’m envious of your life, or terrified.”
“I don’t see why you can’t be both.” Jessica rose and gestured to the cuffs, looking at their new guest. “Any chance I can get you to put those on?”
Amanda frowned. “Why?”
“Appearances,” Jessica replied, flicking her eyes to the detective.
“Is that really necessary? I’m no threat to you, and I promise to be good. Guide’s honor,” the redhead replied with a mock salute.
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Fine. Follow me.”
“Love the dress by the way, hope I didn’t interrupt your evening. I can’t wait to see your ship.”
FRIENDS OF A FRIEND
STELLAR DATE: 05.10.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sabrina, Cerka Station
REGION: Mullens, Virginis System, LoS Space
Amanda watched the purple woman leave the room, and moved to follow before looking at the binders on the table and smiling to herself.
She picked them up and fell into step behind Jessica—a pretty woman, if a little strange looking with her lilac skin and intense purple hair, all of which seemed to glow. Like everyone else she’d seen so far, she was also heavily modified, with all kinds of artificial implants and augmentations, including nano machines that surged through her body and bloodstream. It was fascinating to watched through her Aetheric Sight.
Jessica might not be Tanis, but Amanda was pleased to find that she was now at least in the company of some of Tanis’s friends, including Cheeky out in the corridor. She’d been watching the blonde through a second set of senses she’d conjured out there, and the woman seemed to live up to the impression that Tanis had given of her through her story back in BOB’s Bar.
Stepping out, Amanda smiled up at the guard who’d handcuffed her, and offered him the cuffs.
“Thanks, but they really didn’t match my outfit, and they’re seriously uncomfortable,” she said sweetly, and dropped the cuffs into his hands.
“Uh, thanks,” he said, looking slightly dumbfounded.
“No problem,” Amanda replied and followed Detective Alla and Jessica into the corridor.
Alla watched her little chat with the guard and rolled her eyes at the interaction.
Looking ahead down the corridor, Amanda realized she still had her second set of senses active, giving her an additional view of the area that she didn’t need, so she canceled the effect with a brief thought.
Walking through the passage, Amanda got a better look at Jessica’s slinky, sparkly blue dress, which hugged her clearly modified form.
No one has a body shaped like that without having some work done.
Up ahead, Jessica’s three companions were standing, talking to some of the officers. She spotted Cheeky right away, her blonde hair and bikini-clad body standing out like a sore thumb in the back corridor of the gritty law enforcement station.
Several of the officers were sending admiring glances at her, but Cheeky seemed to welcome it, smiling warmly at everyone around her.
&nb
sp; Amanda noted the dress that Jessica’s chrome clone wore, and felt sure she had interrupted a night out for the girls. Hmm, she thought, I wonder if they’ll pick up where they left off? I could do with a drink.
The last woman looked shiny and metallic, the same way Jessica’s clone did, and a quick look with her Aetheric Sight only confirmed what Amanda had suspected about these two—that they were AIs.
Jessica didn’t say anything to Amanda as she led her down the corridor to the group, but Amanda could see the signals flitting between the purple woman and the others, suggesting that they were conversing through their encrypted neural Link, or whatever they called it here.
Having used her Magic to split her mind into several separate but linked parts—creating a hive mind—she assigned one of these to break the encryption in the Link that Jessica and the others were using.
They quickly said their goodbyes to the officers they had been speaking to and walked ahead of Jessica, threading through the press of people in the station.
Jessica glanced back at Amanda. “Keep up,” she said, before turning back to follow her companions.
Amanda was curious to know more about these ladies, but she also wondered where Tanis was.
Is Tanis elsewhere in this system? Amanda wondered.
She’d gleaned the name of the system from some minds she’d delved into to get a better idea of where she was, but there were still lots of things she didn’t know.
It took a good couple of minutes for the group to make their way outside, but as they left the police station and the crowds of people behind, she and Jessica quickly caught up with the others.
More signals flew between their minds as they regrouped, but it was the blonde who fell back to walk alongside Amanda.
“Hey. I’m Cheeky,” she said, offering her hand in greeting.
Amanda took it.
“Hi, Cheeky, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
“Likewise,” she answered, with a smile that spoke of some naughty thoughts. “So, how do you know Tanis?”
“Well, it’s a bit of a long story, and I think it might sound a little less crazy if it were to come from Tanis rather than myself. But I will say that we shared a drink or two and a few stories.”