by Melissa Good
“I see.”
Jess picked up a bit of plasfilm and handed it to him. “That’s who I told what. So let’s see what happens when I get to both places.”
Bain slowly smiled at her.
“Now, they can do one of two things,” Jess said. “They can try to stop me before I get there, or they can wait until I get there, and trap me. They tried option two already once. Didn’t work out so well for them.”
“No it didn’t.”
“Letting me get close last time didn’t work out so well either,” Jess said. “So I’m hoping they think I’m dangerous enough to want to stop me ahead of time. If they do, then maybe we’ll know who it is.”
“Hm.” The Old Man grunted. “But you will be careful, won’t you, Drake? I would hate for anything permanent to happen to you, or to that charming young lady.”
Jess smiled. “Dev is safe with me.”
“Hm. And on the mission as well.” Bain stood up. “Very well. Keep me advised.” He offered his hand. “Good luck, Drake. Glad you rose to the challenge.”
Jess shook his hand, and then he was gone, the door sliding shut behind him. She leaned back in her chair and nodded to herself. She figured if she pulled this off, there was a decent chance Bain would kick Stephan into Bricker’s job, and her into Stephan’s.
She had almost two sleeves. She’d busted her ass. She had more brains than anyone else in the bunch here, and damn it, she’d earned the chance.
Jess gathered her documentation together, and packed it into her flight kit. Then she headed for the door, figuring maybe they could use another set of hands on the carrier to get it flight ready.
She grinned wryly. Or at least, Dev could.
DEV DUCKED BACK into her quarters, half out of breath as she let the door close and took a moment to sit down and think about what she needed to do next.
She’d just taken the carrier through its flight certification, a first for her, and she was very pleased when the checkout pilot had signed her off after a single round of tests.
Very good. Even though the pilot had been grumpy, and seemed not to like her. He’d muttered something about Barbie dolls, which she had no idea of the meaning of, and finally just keyed in his okay and told her to land.
She had, and then gotten Jess’s call to get herself ready, and now here she was. The problem was, she really wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing besides getting into her pilot’s jumpsuit and collect her helmet.
A shower seemed appropriate, though, so she hauled herself to her feet and slipped into the wet room, shucking out of her work coverall and into the warm stream of water. Its pulsing pressure felt good against her skin as she washed the dust and grime off it.
She let the hot water pound against her for a minute, then shut it off and shook herself hard sending droplets against the wall with tiny little spitting sounds. “Ahh.”
Then she picked up a folded towel and started drying herself off, wrapping the towel around her and tucking the end in as Jess had taught her before she ran her comb through her hair.
“Hey!” Jess’s voice echoed as the inner door opened. “Dev?”
“In here.” Dev called out. “I was just taking a shower.” She was glad she’d finally gotten the word for it in her mental storage, and could now call it by it’s proper name. She glanced to her left as Jess poked her head in and gave her a smile. “Hello.”
Jess was in the simple undergarment she wore under her heavy jumpsuit. It was a mild gray in color and hugged her body. “We’ll have to pack a kit,” she said. “A lot more stuff than the last time.”
“I just wanted to get clean first.”
“So I see.” Jess grinned. “Carrier all done?”
“Yes. All ready to go.” She followed Jess out into the larger part of her space. “Do you know a person named Davis?”
“Ahhugh.” Jess stopped and turned, regarding her wryly. “Johnson Davis? Crotchety old bastard who doesn’t have a good word to say for anyone and looks like he sleeps in his clothes?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Jess indicated the pack that had come in the box Bain had sent. “That’s what you use for the kit.”
“He was the one who did the flight check on the carrier with me. He seemed to be in some kind of discomfort,” Dev said. “So I was wondering.”
“He’s an asshole.”
“Um. Okay.” Dev got into a pair of under wraps, then a twin of the suit Jess was wearing that felt nice and soft against her skin. “Does he feel uncomfortable about my being a bio alt?”
“No. He just hates women. He probably isn’t even aware you’re a bio alt,” Jess said. “He’s the one thing Sandy and I agree on.”
“Oh.” Dev eyed her. “I see.” She paused. “What’s a Barbie doll?”
Jess stopped and looked at her. “Did he call you that?”
“No,” Dev said. “Well, he might have. He said something about Barbie dolls and it sounded like he might have meant it to apply to me. What is it?”
Jess’s eyes narrowed. “If I thought for a minute he meant that and was not just how he felt about women in general I’d go find him and pull his cock off.”
Dev blinked in astonishment. “Um...what?”
“I don’t care who he thinks he is.” Jess avoided the question. “Stupid mindless drunken bastard.” She braced her arm against the storage cabinet then peered at Dev, her dark hair dropping across her eyes for a moment. “Sorry,” she said, after an awkward pause. “I must sound like an idiot to you.”
“Not at all,” Dev said. “But I wish I understood what is causing you distress.”
Jess straightened and folded her arms. Her face scrunched into an expression of mixed embarassment and irritation. “I don’t...we should...” She exhaled. “Never mind, Dev. We can talk about it later. Let’s get going on the run.”
“Okay.”
“So here.” Jess pointed. “You’ll need the jacket, a couple of extra under suits, and one of those colored jumps like that blue one. We don’t wear uniforms in places like Cape Quebec.”
“Okay.” Dev neatly folded the items and fit them into the pack. “Why not?”
“Hm.” Jess held a hand up. “Okay, let’s sit down a minute and talk about being outside.” She motioned toward the chairs. Dev detoured over to her drink dispenser and got out two containers, then came over and handed Jess one before they both sat down.
“Thanks.” Jess studied the container, before she opened it and took a sip. “So you decided you like this stuff?” She held up the kack.
“Yes, it seems so.” Dev smiled. “It’s a little fizzy, and that’s very interesting to my tongue.”
“Aha.” Jess cleared her throat a little. “Okay, so, the deal is this. When we’re here, we’re just who we are. You got that right?”
After a brief hesitation, Dev nodded. “I think so.”
“When we’re out there, most of the time we don’t want to be who we really are. It’s not always safe.”
Dev’s eyes lit up a little. “Oh. You mean we’ll be undercover.” She pronounced the word carefully. “Pretending to be someone else, correct?”
Jess looked surprised. “Right,” she said. “Did they give you programming about that?”
“Yes,” Dev said. “That came in the job programming. Not specific things, but the need to do that. And how to hide and all that. I know the programmers and Doctor Dan were concerned because we do have this.” She touched her neck. “And that’s hard to hide.”
“Turtlenecks for you.” Jess muffled a chuckle at the look of mild bewilderment on her face. “It’s a shirt that has a high collar.” She explained. “You just have to remember not to take your clothes off outside.”
“Okay. I won’t.” Dev paused. “Well, not unless you tell me to.”
Jess shot her a quick look, and swore she saw a twinkle in those green eyes. “Right,” she drawled. “I’ll have to remember that.” She waited, but Dev’s expression remained mild and inquis
itive. “Anyway, we usually put together a cover before we leave, and we get credentials issued to us that match that. Hang on.” She got up and went into her quarters.
“Hang on to what?” Dev wondered to herself. “Hang on to the chair?” She peered around. “To the cup?” She sat back as Jess returned, carrying a folder in her hands. “Hang on to you?”
Jess paused in mid step. “What?”
“Sorry.” Dev took a sip from her container. “I was just thinking about something.”
Jess sat down, leaning on one arm of the chair. “Okay.” She handed Dev a set of cards, and a holder. “This is yours.”
Dev accepted them, putting down her container and studying the materials. She blinked, when she realized the first set of cards was a citizen’s credentials, with her picture on it and an unfamiliar name. “This is very interesting.”
“Yeah, not bad.” Jess was sorting through hers. “So, when we go into Quebec let me do the talking,” she said. “The names they issued us are close enough to our own that it would be hard to slip up, but think about the name they gave you so you respond to it if anyone asks you about the card.”
“Right,” Dev said. “What’s yours?” She peered at Jess’s card. “Oh, okay. I see.”
“When we get to the North Station, you just be yourself,” Jess said. “But in the outlands, don’t let on to anyone that you’re not a—what did you call us?”
“Natural born,” Dev said. “But they won’t call it that will they? So I’ll just be a regular person.”
Jess smiled a little. “Yes.” She paused. “Why natural born?”
“Well, because you are,” Dev said. “Born naturally.”
Jess considered that. “And you aren’t?”
“No. They make us up in test tubes,” Dev said, with a brief grin. “The scientists, like Doctor Dan, select the genes and mix us up and then give us a little zap to get the division started. Then they put us in a shell, and once we outgrow that, into an incubator. Then they hatch us.”
Jess stared at her, blinking. “Are you messing with me?”
“Messing,” Dev mused. “Are you asking me if I’m making a joke?” She watched Jess nod hesitantly. “No, that’s really how they do it. So, that’s why we call you natural born.”
“All righty then.” Jess got up. “Let’s get packed and get going. We’ve got a long trip ahead of us.” She toasted Dev with her drink. “Stick some of these and some crackers in your kit if you want. Always good to have some extra with us.”
“Okay.” Dev got up and retrieved her pack, making sure everything was neatly tucked inside it, and taking Jess’s suggestion she added a few bottles of kack and several packets of the seaweed crackers. She also tucked a spare pair of under wraps inside, and a set of her sleeping clothes since she remembered Jess saying they would be gone for days.
Then, after a pause, she put her book inside the pack too. She sealed everything up, and went to the cabinet to take down her flight suit and get into it. It made her a little excited, feeling the heavier fabric close around her as she arranged the clips and feeds she would hook into the carrier.
She put her boots on, straightening up just as Jess poked her head in the door, her body encased in its familiar black semi armor. “Ready?” Dev asked.
“Ready,” Jess said. “Grab your pack and let’s go to the hangar.”
Dev emptied her container, then she went back and picked up her pack, slinging it onto her back and adjusting the straps. She ran her fingers through her hair, now mostly dry, and went into Jess’s quarters to find her seating her sidearm into it’s holster, her hair pulled back into a tail.
Jess shouldered her own pack and they exited their quarters, emerging into the random traffic of the after lunchtime shift change. They didn’t stop to talk to anyone, and in a few minutes they were at the hangar, moving across the vast open space toward the landing pad their carrier was sitting on.
There were six or so bio alts scrambling around the outside, and the hatch was open, last minute details being taken care of as their launch time neared.
“Looks good,” Jess said. “Nice work.”
Dev smiled. “I just did a small part,” she demurred. “There were many people working on it.”
They cleared around the last work pedestal and approached the pad. “Well.” Jess paused, studying the side. “The mech team thought you did a good enough job to put your name on it. Good sign.” She pointed at the side of the carrier, where Dev’s name had been stenciled right under hers.
“Oh!” Dev’s eyes widened. She slowed long enough to study the letters as they walked up the ramp, dodging an exiting bio alt who was carrying a calibration rig. “I didn’t expect that.”
“I figured once word got around they might.” Jess went into the carrier without explaining that cryptic remark, but Dev lingered a moment to let her eyes trace over the blocky, capital letters DEV inked on the metal side. Not her designation, just the short name and she found herself grinning just to see it.
“Looks good huh?” Clint ducked under the engine pod, wiping his hands on a rag. “They just finished. Hope you leave it in one piece long enough for the paint to dry.”
Dev made a face. “I’ll try,” she said. “I know we caused a lot of hard work.”
“You did some yourself,” Clint said. “Good luck, Dev. Bring her back in one piece and you all in it.”
“Thank you.” Dev gave him a smile. “I’ll do my best.” She patted the side of the ship and ducked inside, only just avoiding crashing headlong into Jess. “Oh!”
“Sorry.” Jess backed up. “C’mon in. I like the new chair.” She let Dev enter then she went over and sealed the hatch. “Once you get everything squared away, let’s get clearance and get out of the bathtub.”
Dev strapped her pack down next to her station and sat down in the pilot’s chair, strenuously resisting asking Jess what a bathtub was. She checked her initial settings, then she started up the comp and began her preflight checks.
Of course, she’d done all that before the certification lift, but her programming told her in no uncertain terms that they had to be done every single time and she could feel the stress on that which indicated to her that this was an important thing.
She listened to Jess rattling around behind her, getting her own pack lashed down, arranging her hold down straps, and checking the weapons and drop kit.
Dev settled the comm set on her head and slipped the earpiece in, hearing the low murmur of ops traffic on the link as she brought the nav comp online. “BR27006, comm check.”
“Stand by 27006.”
“Standing by.” Dev lit up the engine systems board and started running the checks on the new systems, pleased with the response to her test signals.
“27006, Central ops, register comm check, clear channel.”
Dev tuned in the channel a little, her sensitive ears hearing the digital shaping as it evened out. “Central ops, BR27006 reads clear channel, good comm check.” She locked the signal in and released a test squirt, then studied the engine status and the readouts from the navigation comp. “Systems coming online,” she warned Jess.
“I hear ‘em,” Jess said. “Give me power please.”
Dev opened the power channel to the weapons systems, her eyes flicking to her boards as the carrier drew current from their umbilical to soak the batteries. She checked the multiple fuel cells, and nodded at the full charge, reaching over to pre-tune the internal generator that would take over once they were disconnected from the base.
“They asking for a route?” Jess called from the back.
“No, they aren’t. Just standing by,” Dev said. “Everything’s online. Should I ask for flight clearance?”
“Hang on.” Jess settled into her bucket seat, locking the restraint straps around her and feeling them gently snug against her body to hold her down. They had a fast release plate positioned over her chest, and a single slap could get her out of them because you just never knew
what was going to happen even in flight.
She tested the new chair, feeling it solid and easily swiveled, and she pulled down her targeting comps, pleased with the feel of the new surface under her. The chair was more than decently padded, and she reached behind her back, pushing the supports experimentally. “Hey.”
“Yes?” Dev turned around in her seat.
“They put extra pillows in this thing?” Jess watched Dev blush slightly. “Hm?”
“I asked them to add a little bit of support for your back,” Dev said. “I thought you would like that.”
Jess studied her, caught between embarrassment and pleasure. “Do you have any idea how much crap I’m going to have to take for that from the rest of the agents?”
“No, I don’t,” Dev said. “I didn’t consider them when I asked.” She frowned. “Why would they care what your chair was like?”
Jess wriggled a little and felt the comfort of the extra support on either side of her spine, and at the base. It felt good, and she decided she really didn’t care if they cared. “I dunno,” she said. “It’s great, thanks, Dev.”
Dev smiled, and turned back around. “All systems are online and ready.” She fastened her own restraints, taking a peek at Jess in the small strip of mirror above her console. She could see the little grin on her face as she regarded the chair and she grinned herself, glad she’d asked for that small comfort.
“Okay, tell them to crack open the top,” Jess said, as she leaned back in her surprisingly comfortable seat. “Let’s get this party started.”
“BR27006 to pad support, please undock umbilicals,” Dev said into her mic, catching sight of two bio alts ducking under the engine pod in response. She poised her fingers over the power grid, and as they unlocked the port and removed it, she activated the internal power feed and brought them online. “Internal systems green, please clear for lift.”
“Pad control, we’re clear, BR27006. Good mission.”
“Thank you, pad control.” Dev changed channels. “Central operations, BR27006 requesting flight access please.”
Jess chuckled from behind her.
Overhead, she heard the big doors start to open and a moment later, she heard the clearance come back into her ear. “BR27006 acknowledge. Lifting.” Dev spooled up the engines and engaged the bottom jets, taking them up toward the opening roof with steady confidence.