by Kal Spriggs
“What does that matter?” Simon asked.
“I pushed it into mass production and implanted the entire biological population on Khreta Seven and during a solar flare the signal became interrupted on that planet. This resulted in interference with much of the populace.” Run shrugged. “The event received the attention of the Benevolence Council, and they decreed that I must work off my debt to the Chxor race.”
“What kind of interference?” Simon asked.
“You know, he seems pretty unhappy about this,” Ariadne said. “Let’s just let him get back to work. I’m sure he’s sorry, right Run?”
The little Chxor looked up at her, “Sorrow is a human emotion generated as a result of their acknowledgment that they are incapable of perfection. Logically, it is yet another emotion that no Chxor will feel, as we are the pinnacle of both genetic maturity and we continue the improvement of our species through genetic engineering and bio-mechanical implantation.” He paused, “I regret that my experiment wasted both time and resources, and that it resulted in my possible termination. However, I acknowledge that science needs me, therefore I will do my best to survive and continue my efforts.”
Ariadne gave Simon a smile, “See, he’s sorry.”
He rubbed his head, “You give me a headache.” He waved at Run, “Alright little guy, continue, we stopped at adjustable wrench, flex, magnetic coupling. Next item?” As Run went back to the orderly piles, Simon looked over at Ariadne, “You clearly found the shower after you got some sleep. Did you get the ration bar I left for you?”
“I did,” Ariadne smiled. “Thanks. It was an excellent gift.”
“I don’t know that I’d go that far,” Simon grunted. “I would not have believed it before, but those bars make Mratha rice sound good right now.”
“Well, I appreciate it anyway,” Ariadne said. She noticed him shrug uncomfortably. “What’s the problem?”
Simon scratched at his forehead. He glanced at her and then gave an apologetic shrug. “Look, I didn’t want to bring it up… but there’s something you should know about me. I’m pretty sure you won’t like it, but I think it’s best to get it out there and clear the air.”
“You’re not a closet serial killer or something, right?” Ariadne asked.
He snorted, “No.”
“You aren’t a Xenophile and secretly plan to make Hurnath babies with Rastar?” Ariadne said.
Simon coughed in surprise. “No!”
“This is genetically impossible,” Run said. “Despite the similarity of the two species, they do not even share the same cell structure.” He looked up, “Though the experimentation would provide an interesting combination, particularly the lower intelligence of humans and the strength of the Ghornath.”
Ariadne ignored Run’s interjection, “You aren’t secretly planning to conquer the known universe?”
“…no,” Simon answered, “though I would like to keep the option open.”
“And you haven’t tried to kill me in my sleep…” Ariadne smiled, “Other than giving me a ration bar, which falls under homicide by bad food, which I’ll put under the slightly questionable but understandable category.” She held up her hands, “So what’s the terrible secret you need to get off your chest?”
Simon cleared his throat, “Well, you know I said I was a cop, right?”
“Yeah, some kind of investigator, right?” Ariadne asked.
“Yeah, the Confederation Security Bureau, CSB,” Simon said. “We guard government officials and conduct investigations on security threats to the Confederation. We do a lot of counter-terrorism and threat reduction.” He sighed, “Some of that includes elimination of rogue psychics.”
“Elimination?” Ariadne asked.
Simon met her eyes, “Yeah, elimination. Most of the ones they send us after have hit the monster category. They stopped being people. Most of them had some history of violence before they developed their powers. There weren’t many cases like that, but a few, some pretty terrible.”
“Oh,” Ariadne said. She took a deep breath, “Yeah, I can understand that. I’ve only met a handful of psychics. Before all this… well, I mostly kept my abilities to myself.” She hesitated, “What do you classify as a monster?”
“Someone who kills indiscriminately or for the pleasure of it,” Simon answered. “Not just a psychic, either, anyone who does that goes into the monster category for me. Those are the people who belong either behind bars or in the ground.”
Ariadne nodded slowly, “Okay, I think we can agree to that,” She gave him a sad smile, “Honestly, I’ve had too little contact with most psychics to consider myself part of any ‘community’ so if you think confessing to killing some nut jobs who hurt people for kicks will scare me away, you need not worry.”
He nodded, “Well, that’s not all. Security work runs in my family. My dad and both my grandfathers worked security. My dad in the CSB as well… and back when they worked primarily as the government enforcers, especially against the Separatist movement.”
“Secret police?” Ariadne asked.
He shrugged, “He never talked about it much. But I gather he worked more the protection side of things. That’s what pulled me into the service… well that and my grandfathers’ stories. They were partners, back in the day.”
“With CSB?” Ariadne gave him a broad smile.
“No…” Simon took a deep breath, “With ESPSec.”
Ariadne felt her heart stop. “Oh.” She had heard legends about ESPSec, the abbreviation for ESP Security. Under the reign of Amalgamated Worlds they had served as the enforcers for the strict laws against psychics, and towards the end of Amalgamated Worlds rule, their enforcement had made them little more than executioners.
Ariadne figured that their earlier years where they stuffed people into ‘containment’ camps back on Earth didn’t amount to much better. Those years of containment had ended in the largest prison escape in human history, when fifteen million psychics and their families escaped the camps and hijacked the Agathan Fleet. Where those psychics went with the most advanced fleet Amalgamated Worlds ever built remained a mystery. One she wondered about at times when she ran into psychic prejudice and wished she could go somewhere she belonged.
“I see,” Ariadne said.
“They both got into it for good reasons,” Simon looked down at his feet, “But I won’t say they weren’t a product of their times. They hated psychics, especially mind readers. And they were not saints. Hell, Grandpa Zhu worked at the San Antonio Camp as a guard for seven years. He was there during the prison break, actually met one of the Agathan’s leaders. Story about it scared the hell out of me as a boy.”
“So how would they feel about you calling me a friend?” Ariadne asked.
“They probably would think you did something to my head, and one or the other would try to kill you,” Simon said softly. “They could be mean old bastards sometimes. But their stories got me interested in protecting other people. And… well, after my father died, they raised me. I can’t say that their hatred for psychics didn’t effect me, but I’m aware of their background. I think I have it mostly in hand.”
“Yeah, you haven’t tried to kill me,” Ariadne said. “Well, other than the ration bar, but I’ll forgive you for that.” She took a deep breath, “So, got that off your chest, nothing more to worry about, right?”
He nodded slowly, “If you’re willing to leave it at that, so am I.”
Ariadne nodded, “Whatever our grandparents might have done to one another, it’s in the past, and I for one, think that’s a good thing.” She stuck out her hand to shake.
Simon took her hand in his own and shook it. “I like to think I would react with as little anger to hear that your grandparents might have killed mine. But thanks, I appreciate it.”
Ariadne smiled, “I try not to throw tantrums about things I can’t change. You didn’t pick your grandfathers’ jobs, they lived their lives. And I never knew my parents, much less my grandpare
nts. For all I know, they could have been in ESPSec too!”
“Well, if you’re interested,” Simon asked, “I could do some research, once we get back to civilized space. I might be able to track down some details on your family, maybe give you some closure on that.”
Ariadne shook her head, “I’m more interested in finding my brother. My parents and presumably whatever family they had, died in the war. My family is the man and woman who adopted me and my little brother. The rest doesn’t really matter to me.” The cool weight of the lighter in her pocket proved her words to be a lie. Yet her family and whatever history they had seemed like something private, some aspect of her life she did not wish to share. Not even with the cute guy who seems at least a little interested in me.
“Okay,” Simon frowned. “I don’t really understand that attitude, but I’ll accept it. If you need any help tracking your brother down, I would be glad to help with that. How did you get separated, anyway?”
“We had to run,” Ariadne said as her smile faded. “Someone I trusted outed us as psychics and some things got blamed on us.” She shrugged, “Well, blamed on me really. A girl I knew, she had some emotional trouble and committed suicide. Her family blamed me, they said I had messed with her head,” Ariadne looked down at the floor. “So… I ran. And my brother came with me, tagged along like he always did. We went to the Epsilon Erandi system, and then the Altair system. We found a place there, and I found some work… waiting tables actually.” She shrugged, “I met a guy, he seemed pretty nice, but he had some rough friends. They tried to get my brother and I to help them rob the place I worked at. I said no, they threatened Paul…”
“So you ran again?” Simon asked.
“No, I told Paul to run and I fought them,” Ariadne said. “First, I tried to just scare them off, but they came at us with knives and worse. I killed one of them.” Ariadne felt tears well up in her eyes, “Paul got to the spaceport, I tracked him that far. But, I couldn’t stay. The people I fought went to the cops, gave them my information. So, I boarded the first ship out of Separatist space.”
“Sorry,” Simon gave her a nod, “But it sounds like you did what you could. I’ll get some more information from you when we get somewhere I can use it. I’ll need a description, his name and any aliases he uses, and I’d like to take a blood sample so I have someplace to start.”
“All that?” Ariadne asked.
“Well… of course,” he nodded. “I will start a full database search and contact some people I know who do that sort of thing. It will probably take a few weeks, but I imagine I can at least locate what system he’s in. Otherwise we might as well wander aimlessly looking for him.”
Ariadne felt her ears and the back of her neck burn with embarrassment, “Well, that’s sort of what I did. Just asked questions at whatever port I made.”
She could feel Simon stare at her, “Well, that’s a technique, I suppose.” The tone of his voice suggested he didn’t exactly know what else to say.
Run looked over at them, “Your discussion has exceeded allocated break time by approximately one hundred and seventeen seconds. We must continue our inventory or I will be forced to use a commanding voice.”
“That’s not a commanding voice,” Simon said. “That’s a shrill childish shrieking. The only reason anyone listens to anything you say is to shut you up.”
“Your argument is illogical as you admit that my commanding voice has the desired effect,” Run said. “NOW WE WILL CONTINUE THE INVENTORY.”
Ariadne rolled her eyes, “I’ll let you two get back to it.”
* * *
“So we put the blasting cap in like so…” Eric said as he slid the cigar-like tube down into the top of the pipe that Pixel held.
“Blasting cap?” Ariadne asked from the hatchway, headed back towards the front of the ship. “You guys are making explosives?” The galley seemed a terrible place to do it, particularly with its location at the center of the ship.
Eric looked up, “Well, yeah, what else did you think we were doing?”
Ariadne gave a shrug, “It’s a galley, I dunno… cooking?”
“Less talk please,” Pixel said from behind his helmet. “We need to cap this before it becomes unstable.”
“Oh, right,” Eric grabbed a pipe cap and went to put it on.
“No!” Pixel shouted, “Wipe the threads! Wipe the threads!” Eric froze mid motion.
Ariadne looked between them, “Is this safe?”
“Totally safe,” Eric said. He set the pipe cap down and reached for a rag from the pile.
“Not that one,” Pixel said. “That one is soaked in ether, it might ignite on contact with the residue on the threads.”
“Oh! Right…” Eric said. He looked over at Ariadne as he grabbed a dish towel. “Totally safe. You might want to close that hatch, though. And probably don’t step in any of the stuff on the floor, some of it might eat through your suit.”
“Okay, I’m just going to leave you guys to it,” Ariadne said. “I’ll be on the bridge with Mike.”
“Oh, sure,” Eric said, as he gently wiped the threads of the pipe bomb. “Oh, and if Mike asks what we’re doing…”
“Let me guess, I don’t know?” Ariadne asked with a sigh.
“No, he wanted an update,” Pixel said. “Let him know we should be done soon, and I’ll be up to do some modeling of his scans soon-ish.”
“Soon-ish?” Ariadne asked.
“Well, I think some of the nitric acid ate a hole in my suit. It smells like lemons inside here, and I’m getting slightly light headed,” Pixel said. “So I’m going to have to rinse my suit and probably do a full decontamination, just in case. And cleaning this place will be interesting.”
Eric shrugged, “Why not just mop?”
“Because mopping will mix this mess into a slurry rather similar to what we just put inside that pipe,” Pixel said, and Ariadne heard a note of exasperation in his muffled voice. “Not to mention that some of this stuff becomes highly reactive in water. So…”
Ariadne tuned out his chemistry lesson as she walked carefully around their mess and then out the hatch. Not that she didn’t find their work to be of interest, but she didn’t feel like a lecture right at the moment. Besides that, her method of cleaning would probably be similar to Eric.
She had just cracked the hatch to the bridge when she heard Elena’s voice, “As you can see, I could be a valuable addition to your team.” Ariadne felt a moment of guilt as she listened in, but she quashed that. It’s not like I’m reading their minds, she thought, just listening in to a conversation.
“You could,” Mike answered. “That’s a pretty interesting skill set. But our little group has worked well together, mostly because we work together. I’ll run your suggestions past the rest of them, as well as your request to be a member of our team.” Ariadne could see Mike and Elena through the opening. Mike sat in the pilot’s seat, but he had rotated it to face Elena, who stood with her hands on her hips. His eyes flicked to the hatch and he gave Ariadne the slightest nod.
“Have I not been very persuasive?” Elena put a hefty weight on that last word, and Ariadne frowned slightly. She did not like the emphasis, nor how the other woman seemed interested in weaseling her way into the group.
“You have,” Mike said. “And I will definitely take that and your other…” he coughed, “offers into consideration. But, like I said, I need to talk to the others. There’s no rush, we’ve got some time. And as far as what you said about Anubus, well, I’ll think that over too.”
“Are you sure?” Elena said, and Ariadne saw her walk forward to rest her hand on Mike’s shoulder. “I am sure that we can come to a private arrangement. And you could present it to the others as a done deal…”
Ariadne chose that moment to open the hatch. She made sure to let it slam against the wall, “Hey, Mike, how’s it going?” Ariadne could not restrain her smile as she saw Elena jump back and tuck her hands behind her back.
Mike looked over at Ariadne and he gave her a wink, “Not too bad, Elena here wanted to offer her services. She has quite the skill set, actually: a little bit of guns, some expertise in hacking and communications. With her background, she might be a a good addition to the team.”
“Oh, really?” Ariadne asked. “That’s pretty impressive. What did you do before you got captured by the Chxor and stuck on the station?” She saw the other woman grimace slightly at the reminder that she’d needed their help to escape.
“I was a retrieval specialist,” Elena said. Ariadne had heard some ‘corporate’ terms for things before, but something about the phrase had sounded sinister.
“She was a bounty hunter,” Mike corrected, and Ariadne gave him a nod.
“You make it sound more dangerous than it was,” Elena smirked, “I mostly retrieved lost husbands for their divorce hearings or the occasional parole violator. I operated out of Tanis, yes, but I was not one of their registered mercenaries.”
“You ever collect on the head bounties?” Mike asked.
“I am not a killer for hire or an assassin,” Elena said. “Though I have, on occasion, ended up with a dead bounty rather than a live one. It is a risk I face in my job, and sometimes people don’t come with a smile when I show up,” she nodded at Ariadne, “I can see that bothers you. But some of us do not have the ability to control people with our minds. If I had that skill set, I think I would have brought back all of my bounties alive. I do not like to kill.”
Ariadne smiled at the admission, “I can understand that. And I imagine it’s hard for a girl in your line of work.” Maybe she had misjudged the other woman. Her attempt at seduction with Mike might just be the product of her career and Ariadne could understand a woman using all the weapons at her disposal in her line of work.