Pete opened the glass door for her and the woman stepped forward, offering her hand to Charline.
"Dr. Paris?" Charline asked.
"Call me Linda, please," the other woman said, shaking her hand. "You must be Ms. Foster?”
Charline made a face. "Please never call me that again. Just Charline is fine."
"You have something for me, I gather?"
Almost, Charline reached down to pat her pocket again, but she restrained herself. Even surrounded by security she couldn’t guarantee safety. There were too many ways to listen in while they were in the open, and she knew almost all of them.
“Not here," she said. "Is there somewhere more private?"
Linda quirked an eyebrow. Charline could feel the curiosity boiling off her, but she kept it contained. “My lab is empty right now. Follow me.”
Linda pressed the button for the elevator. Charline followed her in, and turned to see Pete and Cory following her. She held up a hand, forestalling them.
"Stay with the air-car, please. I don't think I'll be too long."
They backed off, Pete looking distinctly unhappy about it. The doors closed.
Neither woman spoke as they rode the elevator down. The doors opened, and Charline followed Linda down a long hall past two armed men who waved at Linda as they walked by. At the end of the hall was a locked door. Linda had to punch in a number code to get in, and pass a fingerprint scan.
"Tight security for a college," she said.
"This is a research university," Linda said. "We work on a lot of things here. For a lot of different companies, and the government too sometimes. The facility has to meet military standards."
There was a second security door after the first. That one was opened with a retina scan. Charline nodded with approval at the depth of protection the place had. Given enough time, any secure door could be beaten. The trick was to have layers of security, each of which would require different means to bypass. Delay an intruder long enough, and hopefully someone would realize there was a break-in and respond. Locking people out was less about creating absolute barriers and more about stalling an attack long enough to realize you had a breach.
The lab behind that door was huge. Charline didn't know what most of the devices were, but she knew computer hardware - and the stuff they had humming away in the lab looked state of the art and ferociously expensive.
"I'm impressed," Charline said. "I can see why John wanted me to come to you."
"Thanks. Be it not especially humble, welcome to where I spend most of my hours," Linda said. "I'd show you around, but I'm afraid I'd have to kill you, then." The corner of her mouth lifted in a smile as she added the last.
Charline had no doubts that the research going on here was hush-hush. Nobody got a lab with this sort of equipment and that level of security without reason. The door slid shut behind them, and for the first time since leaving the moon Charline felt a her tension drain away. If anyplace on Earth was probably safe enough to discuss her cargo, this room was probably it.
"John's asked me to give you this," Charline said, pulling the vial from her pocket. She recalled his instructions, and listed them off. "He'd like your initial impressions from your own observations, without the bias of additional data. He also warns that it is potentially extremely dangerous material. Under no circumstances should even a drop be allowed to leave a controlled environment. And be careful with water contact."
"Why? Does it explode? Burn? What does water do?" Burning curiosity filled Linda's voice, and she was leaning forward as she spoke. Charline knew she had her.
"Makes it grow," Charline said, her voice half a whisper. "But I'm really not supposed to say any more until after you've checked it out."
"Well, I'm your biologist. You've got my interest piqued even without the handsome payment to my lab Mr. Caraway offered. And once he offered that - well, let's just say my boss's eyes light up whenever seven figures get mentioned. I was told to drop everything I was doing and help you instead. Which made me a little mad - but I get the feeling you’ve brought me a genuine mystery to unravel, so I’m in.”
"John likes to hire the best. And he's always willing to pay for the best, too," Charline said. She handed the vial to the woman, hoping that John was doing the right thing sending it here. She had a hunch that that little vial of goo was one of the most dangerous substances on the planet, and she was the one who’d brought it home.
"Yeah, which begs the question why me?" Linda said. "I'm only a few years past my post-doc, and my dissertation was about aliens." She cocked her head sideways, waiting for an answer.
“I can’t say more,” Charline said. “John was very explicit. He wanted your direct observations untainted by previous supposition, I think was what he said.”
“Well, I suppose I'd better see what I can do," Linda said. "I'll start analysis right away. You probably ought to head out of the secure area. I’ve got your number from your call. I’ll drop you a line when I have something to report."
"Sounds good." Charline said.
“I’ll have a preliminary analysis in a few hours. You can make yourself comfortable in the cafe downstairs if you’d like.” Linda added.
Charline headed toward the door. “I have some other errands to run,” she said, thinking about Beth over in Houston. A few hours should give her time to go check in on her. Beth might even be up and about by now. “Call me when you have something?”
“I will,” Linda said. She wasn’t looking at Charline anymore, though. She was staring at the little vial, turning it over and over in her hands.
Six
Andy still wasn’t awake yet. Dan looked down at his watch, worried. It had been at least six hours since he’d been found passed out on the floor, and the doctors didn’t seem to know what was wrong with him. The little hospital room was quiet except for the gentle beeping of monitoring devices. They were tracking everything. Cardiac monitors, blood pressure, even brain waves. It was all disturbingly normal. From the medical devices, it looked like Andy was simply sleeping.
Except he wasn’t waking up. And Dan had a bad feeling about why. He’d fallen down just outside the science lab, where all the alien items they’d found were being studied. Including that damned thing the Naga had put in Andy’s ear. When they found him his heartbeat had been irregular and rapid, according to the medics. They did the smart thing. They tossed Andy on a stretcher and took him up to the base medical center.
Which happened to be about fifteen floors higher. There was at least a hundred and fifty feet - including a lot of layers of rock - between Andy and that alien slug now. As soon as they’d gotten him up into the med center he’d stabilized. The doctors were patting themselves on the back for a job well done. Dan had a hunch that it had less to do with medical intervention and more to do with distance. The doctors here were good. He’d been seeing them himself for care of his spinal injury. But when it came to alien stuff he suspected they were working in the dark.
The doors behind him snapped open and John stepped through. Dan slid his wheelchair away from the bed so that his friend could come near. John and Andy were close. Closer than they were willing to admit to anyone, Dan thought. He could see the pain and worry etched in John’s brow.
“How is he?” John asked. His voice was hollow, his face drawn.
“According to the doctors, he’s fine,” Dan said, a little sarcasm dripping into his voice. “He’s resting now. Probably over worked and overtired from our adventures, they say.”
John looked sideways at him. “You don’t think so.”
“No,” Dan said. “I don’t.”
Dan let the silence drag on another few moments. He looked around - there was no one else in the room, and the doors had slid shut behind John after he came in. It would be safe to talk. Not everyone on the base was cleared to know about the Satori or the things they’d discovered while on their little trip.
“We know that thing they put in his ear uses some sort of tele
pathy to translate words,” Dan said. “The doctors got it out of him. But what if taking it out just wasn’t enough?”
“You think it still has some sort of connection with him?” John asked. “It wasn’t lost on me that he got better as soon as they got him away from it.”
“Yeah, I figured you’d notice that too.”
“If we think that’s the case, what do we do about it?” John asked. “Maybe we should have sent him back to Earth, with Beth. If distance limits the effects, Earth might be the best place for him. Or we could just incinerate it.”
Hearing Beth’s name brought a twinge of guilt and worry to Dan. He’d been thinking about Andy’s problem for so long, he hadn’t taken the time to check in on how she was doing with her recovery on Earth. She’d been badly hurt. He knew she’d arrived, and was being treated for her wounds. But he felt a sudden need to know more.
He must have jumped when he heard Beth’s name. John put a calming hand on his shoulder. “Relax. She’s fine. She’s getting treatment, and she’s already walking about.”
“How?” Dan asked. She’d been shot! She ought to be on bedrest for days yet.
“New medical technique. Nanite reconstruction therapy. It’s military only, but I called in a few favors,” John said.
“Thanks,” Dan said. He felt a huge wave of relief. If she was already up and walking, then she’d be fine. It was more the hospital he ought to worry about. Beth was never a good patient, and she’d be pushing for discharge. Probably about the same time her feet hit the floor and she was able to walk.
“Don’t thank me,” John said, a small smile flashing on his face. “I need my best engineer back, that’s all.”
They both stared down at Andy’s prone form for a few long moments. What should they do? They were dealing with things so far outside their normal range of understanding that Dan hardly knew where to start. Would killing the alien slug solve Andy’s problems? Dan would be all for it, if he knew it would work. But maybe it would make Andy’s problems even worse. They had no way to know.
Maybe Andy should go back to Earth. But it seemed like a stop-gap measure at best, unless they intended to ground him there forever. And he’d been a crucial part of their team. Which made him think of another question. Looking over at John’s haggard face, he knew his friend was going through a lot of the same turmoil and second guessing that he was. A chance of topic might help.
“What are we going to do next?” Dan asked. “Once you have your best engineer back, and the Satori is repaired?”
The work had begun on fixing the ship as soon as they’d arrived home. They’d torn it up pretty badly during the mission, but there was nothing broken that couldn’t be repaired with enough work. The team here had mostly built it from scratch in the first place. They could rebuild it. Once they did, then what?
“I wish I knew,” John said. “The engines produce enough power to fuel a continent. Maybe I should just hand the ship over. It’s cost us so much already. It almost cost all of us our lives.”
“In the state the world is in right now? I thought we agreed that would just end in war,” Dan said. Giving that much power to one nation would tip the delicate balance completely. Energy crisis, solved. Global war, assured. It wasn’t a solution. It would just create an even greater problem.
“Perhaps if we gave them all our records about the Naga, along with the ship? Went public?” John asked. “Maybe the world would pull together if they saw such a serious external threat.”
"You think so?" Dan asked. "I think you're fooling yourself. I think they would see a possible threat very far away, and a definite threat close at hand. I don't have any doubt which threat the nations of Earth would focus on."
His words sounded bitter even to his own ears. And he was bitter about it. He'd seen the danger with his own eyes. They'd visited a world that had been laid to waste by some force, probably the Naga themselves. And they'd see first hand how deadly the Naga could be. Sure, they'd won... But it had been a very near thing. And it wasn't without taking a few hits of their own. He looked down at Andy's still form, mute testimony to all they'd been through.
The rest of the world hadn’t seen what he had. Dan knew he was right. They’d react out of fear, all right - not of what might be coming, but out of what they saw right in front of them.
"What would you do?" John asked. His tone was light. When Dan looked over, he saw his friend's eyes were bright and dancing.
"I think we have to get back out there," Dan said. The words gushed out of him, fueled by passion. Space was his life. It had always been his life, ever since he'd been a small boy. He couldn't see backing off now. Not when they'd been where the team had gone and seen the things they'd seen. No matter the danger, he knew in his gut that it would be worth the risk.
Dan looked at John's smiling face suspiciously. "But then, you already knew I was going to say that, didn't you?
"Well, yes," John said. "But then, I knew you pretty well before I selected you as my pilot."
"Damn. When did I become that predictable?" Dan asked.
"Oh, since always," John quipped. His smile was ear to ear now.
"I know that look," Dan said. "You're just about busting at the seams to tell me something. Spill."
"Come with me," John said, jerking his head toward the door.
Dan glanced back worriedly at Andy.
"The doctors are doing everything they can for him," John said. "I want him better as much as you do. And this may help. Come see what I've been working on."
Dan reached out and touched Andy's hand. It was warm under his fingers. Was that the smallest flutter of his eyelids, or just just his imagination? The tiny movement was gone before he could be certain. Dan watched him closely for another few seconds, but the movement wasn’t repeated. He turned his wheelchair away and followed John from the room.
Seven
The flight back to the hospital took the better part of another hour. Charline wasn’t sure what to expect when she arrived. The hospital was supposed to be doing some sort of state the art procedure to get her friend moving along her recovery more quickly. They landed on the roof and Charline left her guards with the air-car again, heading down to check on Beth. She’d already slipped into the hospital record system and found out which floor she was on, so finding her wasn’t going to be a problem. She pressed the button for the fifth floor and descended.
Charline heard Beth’s voice as soon as the elevator doors opened.
“My clothes. Now!” Beth snapped.
The person Beth was barking at said something in a soothing tone that Charline couldn’t quite hear from this far away. She smiled in sympathy. She’d been on the receiving end of Beth’s bad mood. Once. She didn’t want to repeat the experience.
“I said now!” Beth shouted.
She’d better go rescue the poor person Beth was beleaguering before the debate escalated any further. It wasn’t hard to find her, anyway. The shouting had everyone on the hall looking at one specific doorway.
Charline peeked around the edge of the door. Inside, Beth stood with her back to the door, dressed in only a hospital johnny. Her hands were on her hips, which draped the gown in a way that was more revealing than Beth probably would have appreciated, had she been paying attention. The person she was yelling at was a young woman in scrubs holding a tablet in her hands more or less the way a lion tamer might keep the giant feline at bay with a chair. Charline immediately felt for the girl. It was time to step in and take a little of the heat off the hospital staff.
“Guess you’re feeling better then?” Charline asked.
Beth whirled, mouth open and ready to shout again. But she closed it when she saw Charline, and gave a rueful half smile instead.
“About time you got here,” Beth said. “Have you seen what they call food in this place?”
“Nope. No interest. Is she good to go?” Charline asked the nurse.
“No, she is definitely not. She needs more bedrest. The
nanite reconstruction is still in process. She shouldn’t be away from supervised medical care for at least another day!” the nurse said. She seemed to have recovered some of her courage now that Beth’s attention was elsewhere.
“I think you’d better get her discharge paperwork ready,” Charline said, smiling. It always helped to at least lead off with a smile.
“I will do no such thing,” the nurse said.
“OK,” Charline replied. She pulled her phone from her pocket and started dialing.
“Who are you calling?” the nurse asked.
“John Caraway. Who will call your board of directors. Who will probably be perturbed at the disruption of their day, but will happily facilitate the early discharge of one of their major donor’s key employees,” Charline said. She didn’t stop dialing, but she slowed down, tapping each number in a rhythmic, methodical way.
The nurse blanched. “I can go see if a doctor is here who can sign the papers.”
She retreated out of the room. Beth was stifling a chuckle, but Charline could see the effort involved in not laughing out loud.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Beth said. “I was arguing with her for like twenty minutes. She wouldn’t budge. You come in here and in twenty seconds she’s moving like her life depends on it. How?”
“It’s all about the smile,” Charline said. “You smile first, to show you are a nice, reasonable person. And then you stick the knife in.”
It took almost half an hour before they were on their way again. The doctors were not as easy to run roughshod over as the young nurse, but Charline assured them that Beth would be under constant medical supervision while she was out, and that they would report back if her condition deteriorated.
Adventures of the Starship Satori: Book 1-6 Complete Library Page 27