by Melissa Good
“Ah huh,” Elaine said. “So, it’s a plug?”
“Not really.” Dev unsealed the neck of her suit and peeled it down low enough to expose the collar. “There are sockets that the programming system connects to, but then there are leads that go up through the back of your neck here.” She touched the back of her head. “And into your cortex.”
“They put wires in your brain?” Elaine said, after a pause.
“Yes. It’s how they give us programs.”
“How do they do that?” Jason asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not a programmer.” Dev smiled briefly. “It’s a special skill. Not many natural born can do it. “
“Natural born.” Jess looked at her. “Is that what you call us?”
“Yes.”
“Weird.” Jason shook his head.
They all went back to eating. Dev closed the collar on her suit and took a sip of the pale fizzy drink, which she was getting to like. She felt okay about getting the questions since at least they were asking and not just talking at her like they were before.
Good sign, she supposed.
“What do you suppose Bain wants?” Jason asked Jess. “That guy scares me. Don’t care who knows it.”
Jess shrugged. “Can’t be too bad. We all made it,” she said. “Besides, one of the things I noticed going in was that we surprised them.”
Elaine nodded, her mouth full.
“Felt like that to us too,” Jason said. “I expected we’d get ambushed.
Hell, I told Elaine we were probably flying into a net coming around the side of that ridge they were hiding under.”
“Which is strange.” Elaine said. “Because you know we don’t usually leave our kind in their clutches if we can help it. If it had been me, I’d have expected us even if we did cut off comms.”
Jess grunted. “Point.”
“Yeah.” Jason frowned. “Hell, though, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the ass.”
Dev made a mental note to access her pad when she got back to her quarters and start looking up some of the odd verbal utterances she’d heard so far from Jess and her colleagues. She’d heard that thing about the horse twice now, so she figured it had to mean something pretty important,
“So, who else is coming in the class?” Elaine asked. “Twelve for us and?” She looked at Jess. “Any idea?”
Jess scraped the last of the fish from her plate. “Repair chiefs, some security, and from what I hear, a dozen of the biological guys for downstairs.”
“Huh.”
“There are some pilots and mechanics coming from the crèche,” Dev said. “They were staging them when I left. They were talking about new vehicles.”
“Finally!” Jason said. “They’ve been rebuilding those carriers since I was a baby.”
“Last year?” Elaine elbowed him.
Jason elbowed her back. “Shut up.”
“Good to see a new bus if it’s true,” Brent said. “So many things are falling off mine, I was afraid I’d tank someone on the deck when we took off.”
“Yeah, if they give them to us, not the newbies.” Tucker spoke up for the first time. “‘Member what they said the last time, that they had to get the good stuff cause they didn’t know better. We could handle all the crap.”
Jess rested her elbows on the table and cradled her mug in her hands. “Anyone tries to pull that bullshit line on me, I just point them at her.” She pointed at Dev. “They didn’t come any newer than she did this morning.”
Tucker and Brent gave Dev a grudging nod. “Yeah that’s true I guess.” Tucker said. “‘Sides what your rig looked like when you got back I figure they’d got to build it up from base steel anyhow.”
They finished lunch and filtered out the door, most heading for the residential quarters on the next ring of hallways outward. Dev walked at Jess’s side, as it got quieter and quieter when the two other teams peeled off to their rooms.
She paused as she went past Jess’s door toward her own. She had passed the first test of this new assignment and earned herself a continued presence with the possibility of a longer term stay. But for How long?
“Hey, Dev?”
Dev turned, to find Jess in her doorway. “Yes?”
“Change then come over. I want you to come see Bain with me.”
“Okay,” Dev said.
Jess came over and leaned against the wall, folding her arms across her chest. “Don’t let the jackassery get to you.”
Dev looked at her, blinking a few times. “Is that supposed to refer to the rude attitude?”
Jess nodded. “We’re all pretty hard on each other. Sandy and I never got along.”
“No problem,” Dev said.
“Does it bother you?” Jess asked, in a quiet tone.
“Does it bother you?” Dev returned the question.
Jess studied her in silence for a long moment. “Hmp,” she finally grunted. “Damn good question.” She turned and headed back to her door. “Very damn good question.”
Dev waited until the door closed, then she turned and went to her own quarters, scanning through and letting the heavy panel slide shut behind her. She stopped and looked around, taking in the room with a fresh set of eyes.
On the workspace was a packet, and some covered pads, delivered when she was on the mission. So this, for now, was home. She bypassed the table and headed for the sanitary space, already looking forward to a shower and fresh clothes, and the tour Jess promised her for later.
Today had turned out to be a really, really, really good day.
Chapter Eight
DEV LOOKED UP as she heard a buzz at the door. She got up and went to it, triggering the latch and stepped back as the door slid open and Jess entered. She was dressed in one of the more casual jumpsuits, with fewer pockets and softer fabric.
Dev had realized that there were a few different kinds of garb. One was this type, and she was wearing the same now too, and another was the kind she had worn to pilot the carrier which was a heavier fabric, with clips and embedded links for the carrier’s systems to plug into.
“Hello.”
“Ready?” Jess’s eyes swept briefly over the interior. She spotted the packet on the workspace and walked over to it. “You open this?”
“No,” Dev said. “I didn’t know what it was.”
Jess worked the clamp and opened the padded envelope. “C’mere.” She shook out the contents into her hand then turned as Dev approached. “Last bit of archaic crap we use.” She reached up and took hold of Dev’s jumpsuit collar.
Dev stood stock still, not really sure what was going on. She could feel the warmth of Jess’s fingers against her skin, though, and she decided it felt nice.
“There.” Jess let her hands fall, producing a brief smile as Dev gave her a questioning look. “It’s like the one I have.” She touched the insignia on her collar. “Except the bottom enamel strips are green instead of black.”
“Oh.” Dev reached up to feel the item now fastened to her suit. “Thank you.”
“It doesn’t mean anything except that you’re one of us,” Jess said. “I guess when we coded you in as ops tech, it triggered the whole process. That included this.” She picked up a few other items that had dropped out of the packet. “This is your chit card.”
Dev studied it. “Okay.”
“When you go on missions, you get credits,” Jess explained. “You can take this and go to the exchange and trade the credits for stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Stuff. You know, like...” Jess paused. “Well, I guess you probably don’t know. Never mind, I’ll take you there and show you. It’s easier than explaining.”
“Okay.”
“You can also use it at dinner for drinks or extras, which I’ll show you today too. And this pad template—you can specify what you want in here and supply will take care of it for you. Like something other than crackers for the dispenser or a different temperature profile.”
&nbs
p; “Okay.”
“You can put the card in your ident pack,” Jess said. “Okay? So let’s go talk to Bain. I want to get your status clarified before I have to go and have back alley fights with everyone I work with.” She turned and led the way to the door.
What did that mean? Dev wondered. She followed Jess through the hallways, passing the ops center and continuing around the curve into a gray shaded hallway she hadn’t been in yet. This one had two scans, which she felt as an itchy tingle as they went through.
At the end of the hallway was a shielded door, guarded by two big security officers. They regarded her and Jess as they approached. Only at the very end did they move aside and key the door open.
Jess ignored them. “Thank you,” Dev murmured as she went by.
They walked into a small outer office, and the door behind them closed. Jess stood quietly before the inner door, looking around a little as a soft set of bings and clicks sounded, then the inner door opened.
“Ah.” Bain was seated behind a big desk, watching as they entered. “Right on time, Drake. And I see you brought your charming companion with you.” He got up and came around the desk, extended his hand to Dev. “Hello, my dear. You’re very welcome to this meeting.”
Dev politely shook his hand. “Thank you, sir.”
“You did some excellent work.” Bain told her. “Extraordinary, for your first flight, hm?”
“I did the best I could.” Dev smiled. “I’m very glad it all worked out correctly.”
“Yes.” Bain went back behind the desk and gestured for them to sit down in the two chairs in front of it. “Well, Drake, looks like your plan succeeded.” He steepled his fingers. “Hm? All of you returned and I’ve gotten some intelligence here that indicates you left some...hm...consternation shall we say behind you?” He pushed a folder across the desk.
Jess took it and flipped through the plastic like sheets inside. “Ah. So that’s what that ledge was.”
“Hm. Yes.” Bain nodded. “Plasma station. Took out a quarter of the mountain face when it exploded. I daresay you left your mark.”
Wow. Jess sounded the word silently in her head. She selected a grainy picture and passed it to Dev. “Big boom.”
Dev studied the picture. Suddenly the memory flashes popped in, and she recalled the high speed dive past the cliff. She tried to tie in that memory with the picture, which showed a huge hole where the ledge had been.
“Well done.” Bain said. “I would guess you’ve set them back quite a bit, Drake. Sure you didn’t make any more friends on that side though.”
“Wasn’t the lab they had the new growth experiment in though.”
“Ah, no,” Bain said. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. That needs to be addressed. I want you to do it.”
Jess closed the folder. “Two days ago I wasn’t even cleared for active duty,” she said. “One day ago I was being processed out.”
“And?” Bain cocked his head at her.
“There’s probably a better choice than me to take on a new mission.”
Bain shook his head. “I disagree. I realize you were involved in several very stressful incidents, but given the resources we have right now, I cannot recommend another in your place.” He watched her expression. “Besides, your wish to leave us was all based around the presence of your new associate here, and I believe you have, as they say, gotten over that.”
Jess pondered this. “Yeah, now both her and I are taking crap from every direction because of it.”
“Indeed?”
“Indeed,” Jess said. “This started off as a hair brained scheme by Bricker. Everyone knew it. Now everyone needs to know what the deal is.”
“Hm.” Bain tapped his fingertips against his lips. “Yes, it was a hair brained scheme that, unlikely as it was, worked. The people up at LifeSource took him seriously, and gave our friend here what skills they could in so short a time. This morning it was amply demonstrated that their cobbled together effort performed as well as any of our training programs could.”
“True,” Jess said.
“Hm. Well then,” Bain said. “I’ve decided to inform everyone that Bricker made that request on my orders. I never mind taking credit for someone else’s insane ideas, so long as they prove out, hm? So this becomes my idea, and my plan.” Bain gave Dev a smile. “Since it has already proven to be a success, we’ll instruct LifeSource to continue on developing this program. Hopefully we’ll be able to use its results in the future.”
Dev shifted a little. “Excuse me, sir,” she said. “Is it really a good idea to presume success based on so limited an evidence?”
Both Jess and Bain stared at her.
“Do you doubt your abilities, my young friend?” Bain asked.
“Yes,” Dev said. “I haven’t seen that much of them. I trust the programming they gave me, but you’re risking a lot on untested skills.”
Jess half turned in her seat so she was facing Dev. “You don’t want to stay here?”
Dev met her eyes. “I do,” she said. “But I don’t want to disappoint you.”
Jess felt the lengthening silence as she studied the young, intense face next to her. Finally she took a breath. “I’ll take my chances,” she said, shifting to look back at Bain, who was watching them both with an expression of bemused interest. “If you do this, you need to do it all the way. Give her full status. Let everyone know. Then they’ll stop taking shots at her.”
Bain tapped his fingertips together again. “Agent Drake,” he said. “I certainly can send any amount of directives, but I think it will take more than that for your new comrade to be accepted.” He gave her a meaningful look, one scrubby gray eyebrow hiking up.
Jess looked away, then back at him. “You do your part, I’ll do mine.”
Bain smiled. “Deal. Now, about that mission?”
Jess settled back in her seat. “We can’t do a frontal assault again. They’ll be keyed to it. I’ll need to insert.”
Bain nodded.
“Send me all the intel,” Jess finally said. “I’ll work up something.”
“Splendid.” The old man gave her a fond look. “Now, for a more pleasant subject. In recognition of your performance in this morning’s rescue I have added a senior level achievement to your records. In fact, you’ll now take the number one agent slot. I hope this doesn’t cause you any difficulties.”
Jess’s eyebrows rose. “Only with everyone else’s egos.”
He chuckled. “And I have advanced a benefit and comfort package to your colleague.” Bain pointed a forefinger at Dev. “Since I know she came from the crèche with very little. Enjoy it, my dear.”
Dev had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded good. “Thank you, sir,” she said. “I will continue trying to do my best.”
Bain leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Thank you,” he said. “We were in a serious crisis point yesterday. I’m glad we made our way through it, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Intelligence showed us that in this case, Agent Drake, there was no leak of information regarding your attack.”
“Not that I could tell, no,” Jess said. “But does that mean we snuffed the leak, or they’re just in hiding, biding their time?”
Bain inclined his head.
“The key is—who turned Joshua,” Jess said. “Was it someone on the outside or someone on the inside.” She looked Bain in the eye. “I don’t think Bricker had the brains for it.”
Bain smiled faintly. “He was my nephew.”
Only years of field service let Jess remain in her chair and not roll onto the floor. She knew her eyes had widened and she clamped her jaw to keep it from dropping.
“My sister’s son,” Bain said, in a reflective tone. “She gave him over when he was five. I never thought he had the brains for it either, but he made it through the course,” he sniffed. “I agree with you. I don’t think he was the leak, and he wasn’t the one who turned Joshua.”
“So that
person’s still here, if it was an inside job.”
“You think it was.”
Jess gazed at him. “I spent almost every waking moment with him for nine years on the outside of this facility. No one outside got close to him.”
“Hm.”
“But inside?” Jess went on. “That was different.”
Bain sighed. “I have security doing an investigation on it. Very low key.” He turned to Dev. “You’ll let us know, won’t you my dear, if anyone asks you to do something against us?”
“Yes,” Dev answered immediately. “That’s wrong.”
“Is that what your programming tells you?” He cocked his head slightly.
Dev thought about that for a minute. “They gave me the rules,” she said, after a bit. “But this—I think that’s an in here thing.” She touched her chest. “It feels wrong.”
“Hm.” Bain nodded in approval. “Very good.” He focused back on Jess. “Be on your way, Drake. I’m sure you have things to settle. I’ll have intelligence send you an info pack, and will expect your review in the very near term.”
Jess nodded and stood. “Thanks. I’ll let you know what I think.”
Bain chuckled. “Of that I have no doubt.”
HE SAT BACK as they left, resting his elbows on the chair arm and twiddled his thumbs. “DJ?”
Kurok came out from behind the big console behind them and came around to sit in the chair Dev had so recently vacated. “Well?”
“Damn fine job,” Bain told him straightforwardly. “Now, tell me the truth. This wasn’t a last minute rush thing.”
Kurok shook his head. “No. I’d been planning to introduce the idea to you, so I’d done the prep with Dev. The last set of tech skills, yes, that was a rush. We had to write that on the fly, but I had the schema outlines already done.”
Bain nodded. “I think she’ll do well. She has an interesting mix of intelligence and given knowledge.”
“She’s a good design,” Kurok said. “She won’t turn, by the way. They’ll have to kill her first. The one thing about the way I engineered her logic structure that wasn’t entirely logical.”