by R S Penney
“No! By all accounts, it wouldn't.”
Harry threw his hands up, spinning around to avoid looking at her. He doubled over with a shuddering breath. “Pennfield was running his little schemes for years, and no one was the wiser.”
“Perhaps it should have stayed that way.”
Harry straightened, a shiver running down his spine. He wiped sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. “What on Earth happened to you?” he whispered. “This is not the Aamani I remember.”
When he turned, she was standing in front of the window, silhouetted by the gray light of an overcast sky. “I witnessed the danger of contact with aliens,” she said in the most matter-of-fact tone Harry had ever heard. “I witnessed what happens when they are allowed to bring their weapons, their pharmaceuticals, their criminals onto our world. If you think the terrorist attacks of three months ago were bad, I've seen intelligence reports that insist the situation could be so much worse.”
He paused for a moment to consider that, but the only response that came to mind was one he had already offered. What exactly was the alternative? Cut themselves off from the rest of the galactic community? How would that make them any safer? It would not prevent criminals from coming to Earth; they had been doing that long before the alliance with the Leyrians.
Aamani leaned forward, gripping the windowsill in both hands. She heaved out a deep breath, struggling for patience. “Take the offer to your superiors,” she said. “Make sure they understand who they're dealing with.”
“What does that mean?”
“There are voices in the federal government who are growing distrustful of aliens,” she said. “And we aren't alone. The sentiment is echoed by our compatriots from other nations. My advice to you, Detective, is this: don't make the mistake of underestimating us. The world is changing; we intend to be a voice in shaping it.”
She left him to chew on that.
Hundreds of tiny snowflakes swirled outside her window, blocking her view of the skyscrapers that reached for the heavens. With such thick cloud cover, the city lights were trapped, creating a kind of permanent ambiance.
Anna stared through the window with her lips pressed together, sweat slicking her forehead. So, you're going through with it then, a small voice whispered. No backing out of the plan now that you're committed.
She closed her eyes and heaved out a soft sigh. Get yourself together, Lenai, she thought, backing away from the window. If there's anyone in this universe you can trust, it's your best friend.
She turned.
Gray carpets stretched from wall to wall in the living room of her small apartment, and the old cream-coloured couch looked as though it might fall apart. It had been a gift from Jack's sister, furniture the other woman no longer wanted. The knee-high, wooden coffee table was in bad shape.
On the far side of the room, her kitchen sat in darkness. This place didn't have all the amenities that she had grown used to on Alios, but it was a mere two floors above the apartment she had once shared with Jack; that made it easy to get together. Tonight, she had asked him over for a very serious conversation.
A knock at the door said that he had arrived.
“Come in,” she shouted.
The door swung open to admit Jack in a pair of blue jeans and a thick gray sweater, his dark hair in a state of disarray. “Hey, Anna,” he said in pleasant tones. “So were you wanting to get some supper?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Anna shut her eyes tight. “No, I really wanted to talk,” she said, striding across the room. “There's been something on my mind for a few days now, and I need to come clean.”
He stared at her with those big blue eyes, no doubt wondering if she was about to drop some bombshell. “Okay,” Jack said. “Whatever it is, I'm here to help. Does it have something to do with your meeting with Larani Tal?”
“Yes.”
“Is everything all right?”
Anna turned her head to stare at the wall. “No,” she said. “Everything is most certainly not all right. Remember two weeks ago when I chased those smugglers in the shuttle?”
“Uh huh.”
Anna scrubbed a hand over her face, brushing damp hair away from her forehead. “I picked up some strange energy readings from Ganymede,” she said. “I was too busy for an intensive scan, but I filed a report on the matter.”
Jack leaned against the front door with a hand pressed to his stomach, heaving out a sigh. “So you figured the higher-ups would come clean once they read the report,” he added. “But now you've been ordered to keep quiet.”
“You're good at this.”
“You might say I've been around this block a few times.”
Tension drained out of her like water from a leaky bucket. There was something so very cathartic about sharing your thoughts and concerns with someone else. Deep down, she had always known she could trust Jack. “I was ordered not to tell you specifically,” Anna went on. “Larani Tal was concerned you might overreact.”
A warm smile blossomed on his face, and just like that, her doubts and reservations vanished. “I'm glad you trusted me,” he said, bowing his head to her. “I know I have a bit of a reputation for bucking the system.”
Jack offered a hug that she gladly accepted, slipping her arms around his waist and settling into the warm embrace. Oh boy, did this bring back memories. She remembered that very first hug on the night when he had offered to let her stay in his apartment. The joy of knowing that she wasn't alone anymore.
Anna leaned her cheek against his chest, breathing deeply. “So I guess we have to figure out what we're going to do,” she murmured. “Larani claims that station's purpose was to keep an eye on ships in the outer system.”
“Which makes no sense.”
Jack closed his eyes, turning his face up to the ceiling. “A ship or station in orbit of Earth could monitor the outer system,” he added. “Setting up a space station near Jupiter would be pointless if that was your goal.”
“Yeah…”
Jack pulled free of her embrace.
He paced across the living room to stand over the coffee table with hands shoved into his pockets, staring out the window. “I guess I have to come clean with you now…” he muttered. “Quid pro quo.”
Slowly, hesitantly, he told her a story that left her with a lump of ice in her belly. A few months back, Ben had taken a trip out to Palisa to investigate the influx of Leyrian weapons, and while he was there, he encountered a woman with a symbiont. A woman with a symbiont who had tried to kill him. So that made two.
Until now, she'd had the luxury of believing that Wesley Pennfield was some kind of anomaly. Perhaps Summer was not the first Nassai he had captured. Perhaps he had bonded one after experimenting on it. But two…Two meant any number of things, none of them good.
This woman might have been a rogue Keeper, but it was just as likely that she and Pennfield represented some other organization with access to Nassai. Perhaps Cal Breslan had been one of them. Anna tried not to shiver, though it took some effort. Seth was there in the back of her mind, pondering this with a kind of grim curiosity. His emotions were hard to read, but the fact that she could sense him at all meant that this conversation had affected him.
Biting her lower lip, Anna shut her eyes. She exhaled through her nose. “Another murderer with the ability to bend space-time,” she whispered. “Are you starting to get the feeling that this is a conspiracy?”
Jack kept his back turned, but the slump of his shoulders told her all she needed to know. “Yeah,” he replied. “I've been musing on that ever since Jena's showdown with my old boss.”
“And you didn't tell me-”
“Because I didn't think you'd believe me.” Jack said. “If you're about to imply that I don't trust you, please don't. I just know that you put a lot of faith in the people we work for.”
“Okay,” she said. “What's our next move?”
“We tell Jena.”
Anna frowned and looked
up at him, blinking several times. “You want to involve an authority figure,” she said. “Of all the things that could have come out of your mouth, that was not one I expected.”
He stood there with arms crossed, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “Jena isn't like other authority figures,” Jack explained. “She's been playing this game for years, and I think she'll know our next move.”
“All right,” Anna said. “We'll do it your way.”
Dressed in black pants and a red blouse that she left untucked, Jena Morane leaned against the edge of her desk with her arms folded. “Wonderful,” she said. “So now we're spying on our allies.”
Of all the reactions the news of the Ganymede Station might have produced, this was quite possibly the best that Anna could have hoped for. She was still a little worried about the prospect of Jena reprimanding her for not sharing this information sooner. Then again, it seemed her new boss wasn't that kind of woman.
You could tell a thing or two about someone from the way they furnished their surroundings, and Jena's choice of décor – or rather, her lack of choice – spoke volumes. This office was as spartan as the day Jena had claimed it.
Aside from a desk that sat in the middle of the black-tiled floor and two chairs that could be used by visitors, there wasn't a damn thing here to indicate the woman's tastes. No pictures on the wall, no plants or paintings. Anna kept a small teddy bear she'd had since childhood sitting on the corner of her desk. Upon moving into the office that she now shared with Jack, she had insisted on hanging some of her paintings. Gray walls were such a dreadful thing to look at for hours on end.
Not Jena.
This room was about as relevant to her as a pair of socks; it served a function, but it was not something she'd expend any great amount of thought on. No, Jena saw things as a matter of function, not form.
Jack and Ben stood side by side in front of her, facing the desk with hands folded behind their backs. “I'm afraid I don't know anything about this station,” Ben said. “I did a check through the LIS files. Nothing.”
“Maybe you should make some inquiries,” Jack suggested.
“You can't do that,” Anna said, striding through the gap between both men. “If you do, it will tip off whoever's trying to cover this up.”
Jena looked up at her with fierce dark eyes, squinting as though uncertain of what she saw. “Looks like someone's learned a thing or two about politics,” she said. “I'm impressed.”
Jena stood.
She scrunched up her face before pinching the bridge of her nose with thumb and forefinger. “All right. Jack, start digging,” she ordered. “You've got a knack for sticking your nose in where it's not wanted; put those skills to use.”
She spun on her heel and paced a line in front of the desk, marching all the way to the wall. “Ben,” she said, “I know you're not officially under my command, but you have worked with us before. Can I count on you?”
Ben studied her with lips pursed for a very long moment. He nodded at last. “Of course you can, ma'am,” he promised, through Anna had to question the hesitation. “So where do I begin?”
“Put out feelers,” Jena instructed. “See what you can learn.”
Anna crossed her arms with a heavy sigh, her head hanging in dismay. “I suppose that means I'm on standby,” she said, whirling around to face the door. “If anyone needs me, you know where to-”
“Stay put,” Jena ordered.
There was something in the other woman's voice, a firmness that was not exactly harsh but not gentle either. It left Anna wondering whether she was wrong about her new supervisor. Maybe there would be consequences for failing to come forward sooner.
When she looked up at Jack, he offered nothing but a puzzled expression, his brow slowly furrowing. “I'll get on the…digging,” he mumbled. “Come on, Ben. You can help me review the station's flight logs. Let's see how many ships just happened to fly past Jupiter on their way out of the system.”
They left without another word.
Anna threw her head back, blinking several times to moisten her eyes. “Is there something you wanted to discuss?” she asked, spinning around to face the other woman. “If you're upset that I didn't come forward sooner…”
Her supervisor stood perfectly still with her back turned, seemingly fascinated by something on the wall. “No. I wouldn't be upset about something like that,” Jena said. “It takes time to analyze the situation and decide on the proper course of action. You trusted me when it counted; that's good enough.”
A moment later, Jena whirled around and strode across the room with hands clasped behind her back, pausing at the side of her desk. The look of consternation on her face was…unsettling. “I couldn't get access to the shuttle logs,” she said. “Those have been classified, but I called in a few favours.”
“Ma'am?”
“Captain Ranse of the Noroko is a friend of mine,” Jena explained. “I asked him to send the telemetry of your little chase through the solar system. Their sensors didn't pick up anything substantial from Ganymede, but I did notice something interesting.”
A mix of emotions went through Anna: curiosity morphing into concern and then anxiety. At first, she thought the ship might have noticed something that her scanners had missed, but if Jena was bringing this up now, it could only mean one thing.
The other woman rounded on her, lifting her chin to stare down her nose at Anna. “You hesitated,” she said in accusing tones. “You had a clear shot at the escaping shuttle, and you didn't fire.”
“I wanted to avoid the use of lethal force,” Anna said, touching a finger to her forehead and massaging away a throbbing pain. “I didn't want to kill them.”
Jena's face was expressionless, but there was severity in those dark eyes. “And if they had used that moment to escape?” she asked. “If they had taken a chemical weapon to an inhabited system.”
“Ma'am, I was sure I could disable-”
Jena strode forward as if she meant to trample Anna to death, shaking her head in disgust. “You're a damn good Keeper, Anna,” she said. “You've got a sense of right and wrong that won't be swayed by political pragmatism.”
“Thank you, ma'am. I-”
“But this job requires you to make hard choices.” The interruption was neither loud nor forceful, and yet – somehow – Anna found herself unable to offer up even one single word of resistance. “Your service record tells the story of a woman with a reverence for life; that is commendable. However, no principle should be held to so dearly that we stop thinking and analyzing each new situation.”
“You're saying I should have fired?”
“I believe so, yes.”
Considering that possibility left Anna feeling numb. Every now and then, thoughts of Dex popped into her mind. She already had one life on her conscience; adding more would break her. And how many lives would be on your conscience if the terrorists had gotten away? How many more?
No. There had to be a way.
Anna Lenai was not a killer; she had joined the Keepers to save lives, not end them. With enough ingenuity, she could have disabled the shuttle. “I would have pursued them to the outer system,” she insisted. “I would have stopped them.”
“How?”
Anna felt her face grow hot, sweat prickling on her forehead. She wiped it away with the back of her hand. “I would have found something. There is always a way if you look for it.”
With a heavy sigh, Jena turned around and strode past the desk to the slanted window that looked out on the vastness of space. “Leyrian thinking,” she muttered. “We have grown used to the idea that just about any problem can be solved if we just remain patient enough to find the solution.”
“Most problems can be solved.”
“Most,” Jena agreed. “Not all.”
Despite a powerful instinct to slip away from this conversation, Anna found herself moving forward to stand beside the other woman. The station was oriented so that Earth was not visi
ble in the window, but she watched the stars twinkling in the distance. Jack had, at one point, named some of the constellations when they sat together one night on the fire escape of his little apartment. The first one with the bed separated by curtains. Sadly, she couldn't remember most of those names.
Anna shut her eyes, pressing a palm to her forehead. “So weapons' smugglers in a fleeing shuttle is one of the problems we can't solve?” she inquired. “The only solution is found at the end of a plasma cannon?”
Jena stood with her forearm against the window pane, peering out into the void. “I honestly don't know,” she murmured. “Maybe you could have found a way. But what concerns me is the rigidity of your thinking.”
“Ma'am?”
“Stop calling me that!” Jena barked. “I've never had any love for authority figures, and I have no desire to be reminded of the fact that I've become what I hate.” After a brief pause, she took a deep breath and visibly calmed herself. “I'm sorry. What I mean to say, Anna, is that optimism and idealism are wonderful things, but they should be the product of rational thought, not dogma.”
Anna forced a smile, then lowered her eyes to the floor. “Yeah. I suppose you have a point,” she said. “It's funny; I never noticed my Leyrian arrogance until I came here.”
Heaving out a deep breath, Jena looked up at the ceiling and blinked. “You were young,” she said. “It's hard to notice the things that you're raised to believe until you see a contrast.”
“Yeah.”
“It's almost ironic,” Jena went on. “Larani, Glin, even Dray Adarus: they can't seem to fathom the idea of a Keeper working to undermine everything we've built. They look at Slade, and they can't imagine that he would ever support a traitor. Bleakness, they can't imagine the idea of Breslan turning traitor.
“But with Jack and some of the other Earth-born Keepers…The governments of this planet are among the most corrupt and self-serving that I have ever seen. The entire social structure seems designed to favour the powerful and keep the lower classes in their place. But, you know, it does leave people with a healthy skepticism of authority.”