by Sandra Bard
"Where is Vincent Manning now?"
"Dead."
Hideki had expected that much, but still, it was a surprise.
"The last attack by the space pirates vented his quarters to space."
"Recently?"
"Two months ago." Tyler looked at Hideki quickly and then away.
"From what I see, your station's in a bad way." Hideki made a neutral observation instead of calling Tyler out on just how convenient it was for the person who'd contacted ISF to die before the next inspector could come.
"If you'd come a week later, we'd have cleaned up the place. You're early."
"I made good time."
"Can you make good time going away?"
"Now you're being childish."
"I'll tell you who's being childish, you little—"
"Ty."
There was the sound of hard heels on the floor, something Hideki wasn't expecting in such an environment and he turned around and stopped short. Walking down the corridor was a small built woman in heels about an inch high, dressed in a long sleeved white blouse and a skirt—a skirt, exposing nicely shaped legs. He blinked. He hadn't seen a woman wear a skirt in space in a long time.
"I was handling him," Tyler grumbled but looked chastised as he stepped away from Hideki with a scowl.
"Go away, Ty," the woman told him, not harshly, before turning to Hideki. "Hello, I'm Florence Tan, and I run this station." She held out a small hand with manicured fingernails.
Hideki frowned as he tried to process another unknown. Since the time he'd left Earth's ISF station, it seemed Marion had had a few changes to its crew—including a new station manager who'd been formerly the station's Entertainment Officer. He'd assumed one of the older relatives of Cheng Wang Tan had taken over, one of his sons perhaps, not the elusive second grandniece who, according to the records, had been on Earth until less than three years ago.
Florence Tan—cool, efficient and very confident. Her grip was surprisingly strong for someone her size and when she turned around, Hideki followed her automatically, watching her feet move on the surface whereas he half floated.
Her heels were firmly fixed to her legs by small straps around the ankle, and when she moved, he heard the soft fix and release sound of alternating magnetic grips that were used in space walks when doing hull repairs on the vacuum.
She probably had the strongest calf muscles in the entire station. Despite her pretty looks, she was no delicate crystal.
Her office was all soft colors and comfy cushions over furniture bolted to the hard metal hull. Every single piece of furniture was there for a purpose, nothing extra whatsoever.
"Please, sit," she said, sitting down on a sofa and kicking her legs up. She did so carefully, keeping her knees together. It reminded Hideki of his mother.
"Thank you," said Hideki, sinking into the chair facing hers, feeling his body groan in pleasure as the comfortable cushions moulded to fit the contours of his body.
"For the record," Florence said abruptly, "lay off Ty's face. He gets a lot of flak for that, so back off."
Hideki blinked. He felt like a little boy being reprimanded by a teacher, though he knew Florence was younger than him by several years. "I'm really sorry if I offended him, but he started it."
"I'm also aware of that. But do understand, we're all here for a reason. Everyone in space, that is. Some of us are running away from something. We don't like it when people come asking questions."
True enough. Hideki had so many problems he didn't even want to think about them. "What are you running away from?" he asked.
"A boring Earthside job as a librarian," Florence told him with a smile. "I was pretty good at it. I enjoyed it, especially story hour when I had to read to the kids, but when my grandmother died and left me this place in her will, I jumped in feet first."
"When was that?"
"A couple of years ago." Florence shrugged. "You can access my records and take a look, if you want." Her gaze was even. "Don't get me wrong. I wasn't doing much here, either, as entertainment manager. But when Vincent Manning died, no one wanted to manage this place, and I had no choice but to step up."
"I will look you up. Now, the reason I am here …"
"Let's get down to business, shall we?" Florence said, getting to her feet. She walked to the wall food dispenser and keyed in a code. Two sealed drinking containers rolled down the slot—Hideki wasn't asked if he wanted a drink; he was simply given one.
"The reason I'm here," Hideki said, "is because someone—Vincent Manning, your predecessor—sent a call for help to us. He stated that this station was becoming unmanageable, that there were attacks on the station from space pirates, and he wanted either the money to move the station or to sell it to ISF in exchange for another posting—we assume on another station."
"It really wasn't his job to negotiate the safety of the station with ISF," Florence told him confidently.
"As station manager, it was his duty to ensure the safety of the people under him."
"It was before my time. I know there is a lot of space pirate activity in this area, but we're—"
"Why?" Hideki took a sip of his drink while giving Florence the time to answer. The drink was some sort of tea, sweet with subtle overtones, and he chased down several gulps trying to identify the taste.
"Why what?" If she was annoyed at being cut short, she didn't show it.
"Why is there a lot of space pirate activity in an area where there is low commerce? This is the only station in the area, the habitable planets are too low tech to do anything but farm and there isn't another outstation post for a couple of light-years."
"Exactly. Some space pirates got the idea this sector of space would make an excellent hideout for them. The government patrols rarely come here … There is nothing worth stealing, no metal, no nothing. All we have is this ready-built station and the planets down there."
She sipped her drink and grimaced. "The asteroids make excellent hiding grounds for them. No space patrol, should they ever come here, would follow them into Sherwood Forest." She looked at Hideki. "The pirates want this base, but we've been holding them off ever since they built their hidey-hole in Sherwood. We came here first; this is our home. We're not going to just leave."
Which made telling her about the evacuation order even more difficult.
"So, even if the pirates were to take over this base, no government would have tried to take it back." About the same time this sector of space was being explored, a part of the Spiral Arc 145 was found to be abundant in valuable minerals. Everyone had rushed over to that part of space. What Florence said was true; the only people who truly cared for this part of space were the people who owned it.
"And no government will. We have a solution to our problems. We haven't had an attack in some time, and we are building up our commerce by trading with the dirtsiders."
Spacer slang from her well-shaped lips made Hideki feel at home. She was a spacer at heart despite her groundside clothes.
"How did you stop the pirate attacks?" he asked.
"They stopped coming."
"Just like that, no reason what so ever."
"We got some of the groundside pilots to help us out." Now she was being just plain evasive.
"They had the necessary fire power?" Groundside pilots used space-age push carts. It was only in 3D vid shows that every pilot had a Palomino at their fingertips.
"Yes."
"You do realize this station isn't safe for anyone. The last report said the pirates have grown stronger and the attacks have escalated, and from what I can see—"
"Why should they care now?" Florence snapped. "Where were they when we were calling for help? We lost people, good people, to those attacks. We lost two of our gravitational generators, and we're still making repairs to our structure." Her eyes blazing, she jumped to her feet. "You don't get to decide whether to shut us down or not. Not now, not when we're just getting back to our feet."
But how, H
ideki thought. How are you getting to your feet and keeping the pirates away?
Hideki stood up carefully. "I'm impartial when it comes to—"
"Don't bullshit me—"
The explosion rocked them both. Florence gasped and her drink came free from her grasp, making a slow descent to the floor. She reached for her earpiece, and for the first time Tyler noted a pink emergency helmet ring around her neck. She looked up at Hideki, face pale, lips unnaturally bright from the lipstick. "We're under attack."
Hideki was at the door before she recovered, his sensible space shoes an advantage. He hit the corridor outside and almost ran into Tyler hovering at the doorway, his eyes glazed over, leaning against the supporting column.
Hideki moved to him hastily, his hand closing on Tyler's shoulder. Even in that moment, distracted by the explosions, he was surprised to feel a fizzle of attraction for Tyler.
Tyler's eyed snapped into focus the moment Hideki touched him. He shook his head. "I …"
"What was that?" Hideki asked.
A drop of blood floated off from Tyler's left nostril. Hideki reached forward instinctively and brushed the next drop before it became a floating blob, and then he looked at Tyler.
"Something blew," Tyler snapped, stepping back, his face flushing. "I … I was leaning against the door and fell, hit my face."
Hideki frowned. Tyler either had to be one of the clumsiest pilots he'd ever seen, or he'd been so caught up in his eavesdropping he hadn't even noticed until he'd hit the ground. Neither option explained anything since the section sealing doors were soundproof—leaning against Florence's office door would have been a useless gesture.
"They're attacking our hydroponics," Florence said, appearing at the doorway, her voice flat. Her face gave away nothing, though her hand clutched the door frame in a white knuckled grip.
"Shit." Tyler pulled away from Hideki. "I'm going to—"
"I'm coming with you," Hideki said.
"Argue with me as I run." Tyler bounded down the corridor with more speed and coordination than he'd shown before.
"I have a Palomino, battle ready," Hideki said as they shot down a hatchway. "There are laser guided missiles on it."
"We don't need it," Tyler said as another explosion rocked the station.
Hideki made way for the crew flowing towards them and looked at Tyler. "I thought the evacuation pods were in the opposite direction."
"You expect the crew to evacuate now, during an attack on the station? Whatever is outside will pick them off like flies."
"How do you know if anyone is outside and how many?" Hideki asked suspiciously.
Tyler tapped his emergency helmet and Hideki realized it was probably a comm unit that was feeding Tyler constant information about the state of the station. He had probably been distracted earlier since he was listening to his comm.
They both burst into the docking bay at the same time, where the controlled chaos of activity left him stunned. There were people getting into small space fighters, some clearing the loading bay for emergency launching and … two droids pulling down the tarp from the object he had noticed earlier.
"What is that?" Hideki asked, more to himself than to Tyler as he stood there looking at the object being revealed in stages. "Is that—"
"A prototype for a mecha that never quite caught on. It's the Space Walker Battle Mech Suit, X14." Tyler sounded as if he were giving a religious service. "A Mobile Armored Unit."
"How … That's not like any other MAU."
"It's a grandfather of all MAUs One of the original designs." Tyler huffed as he ran towards the mech unit. Hideki watched as Tyler jumped, then clung to the side to propel himself up the giant object until he reached the 'chest' area which slid open to reveal a cockpit.
"Sir, you have to clear the area. We're about to launch," a mechanic informed Tyler briskly.
"Not yet," said Hideki, watching Tyler hang half out of the MAU, one leg inside, the other propped against a small dent in the chest piece. The move caused Tyler's clothes to pull across between his legs and Hideki lost track of what he was saying until the station shuddered under their feet. "I'm going out, too."
THEN
"I … I have tubes coming out of the back of my head! Actually, I don't have a head!"
Kaishi could hear his own voice, formed through a vocalizer that gave it a mechanical tinge. The shock of seeing his floating head, with the open brain … casing … skull … had reduced him to a blabbering mess for a while, but he had rallied quickly.
"There was virtually nothing left of you to save," Dr. Stevenson said as he walked over to Kaishi. "Your mother insisted we do the best we could and hence, I'm trying."
"But … I didn't think we could do that." He'd seen limbs regrown and attached but had never heard of an entire body being grown. "How long have I been here?"
"One month, two weeks, five days. Your brain stopped several times, and it took considerable skill to make sure it was stable."
"And now?"
"We give you a new body."
"Can it be done?"
"A new one is being grown even as we speak." The doctor looked at him and sighed. "It's my best work to date, though I do wish we had more time. Or I was back in my lab."
Kaishi opened his mouth to ask a question about the growth of bodies but stopped short as he thought of something else.
"How much is my mother paying you?"
"She's paying me, but not in money." The doctor shrugged as he again fiddled with the setting of the suspension gel chamber. Kaishi tried to squint. Dr. Stevenson's cheeks were stained slightly red.
"Then what?"
The doctor looked down at Kaishi thoughtfully and nodded. "I do hope you don't report it, but since you will be benefiting from it and your mother is involved … The official report is that everyone aboard the space shuttle died when it crashed."
"She's letting you experiment on the other passengers."
"Oh, rest assured, it isn't anyone important."
Kaishi blanched. "How do you know? Maybe it's someone's—"
"The irony isn't lost on me. The only person, besides you, to survive the crash was a criminal by the name of Jasper Croinsky. He's being transported to the penal colony in Alama Space."
"Huh," said Kaishi. Everyone knew of Alama space; it was where the most vicious of criminals were sent, never to be seen again. Then he came to his senses. "But that doesn't mean—"
"He was as good as dead anyway. And no one would miss him."
"How badly injured was he from the crash?"
"He has more body mass left than you do."
"That sounds promising."
"And his mother didn't come to me requesting I return him to the way he looked before the accident."
Kaishi felt his lips twitch in suppressed mirth despite everything. "You're augmenting him?"
"Something like that."
"I'd like to see that."
"Perhaps later," said Dr. Stevenson, already distracted by the medical display. "Now, let's see, your face is partially paralyzed. Your brain ran out of oxygen and you experienced something similar to a stroke, though it was actually a neural—"
"What are you getting at?" Kaishi demanded, grateful for once his face was obscured by the breathing mask and he hadn't been able to see his features properly.
"If you need a new face, now's the time to get one." Kaishi felt he was being spoken to very carefully. "I have a few in stocks and I won't even charge you anything extra for it. How about the iconic face of Jason Miracle?"
Kaishi felt his lips twitch again. As ridiculous as the suggestion was, he was grateful for Dr. Stevenson for trying to make him feel better in his own way. "I'll think on it."
"How about a game of chess, then? Your mother tells me you're rather good at strategy."
NOW
"Sit this one out, Inspector." Tyler sounded tense. "I don't want to accidentally shoot you in the ass."
"You do that, you'll have a wave of enf
orcement officers here before you can say 'oops'."
"If you get shot in the back, the ISF will come down on us with guns blazing, doesn't matter who shot whom," Tyler spat, his face contorted in anger, his cheeks flushed red, and for a moment Hideki could see why such a face was useful for winning an argument—it was very distracting. "You don't know how we fight, and we don't need the interference."
The entire space station shook as something gave way. Hideki closed his eyes and tried to decipher the extent of the damage. Tyler was right: he didn't know about Marion's battle tactics. However, he was curious about the strength of the enemy and just how effective Marion's defenses were. And he had never been the type to sit back and watch while others fought for him. If there was something to be done, he needed to do it, even if it was offering his assistance to the very people he'd come to relocate.
"Is there anything I can do from here?" Hideki asked.
"We've an automatic defense array," Tyler said, his mouth twisting into a grimace. "The AI's a little old, tends to focus on something and not let go until it's destroyed. You can go to the gun control and see if you can do some manual firing."
"Fine," said Hideki, tapping into his comm unit in the helmet ring for the first time since his arrival. He had the directions to where he needed to be in seconds.
"We're about to depressurize the launching bay," Tyler said as he clambered into the cockpit with the surefootedness of someone who had done it numerous times. Hideki turned around and broke into a run; he had places to be.
THEN
"You really shouldn't have done that," Kaishi said—or rather, his neural interface vocal synthesizer said for him.
"You really think I'd let you die, after I lost your father as well?"
Kaishi would have been reassured if his mother had had any feelings in her voice. His voice, modulated, had more emotion than hers. Still, he knew she would do anything for him, including bring in a rogue scientist with a questionable reputation to regrow her son a new body. If found out, her position as the mayor of Luna base would be in jeopardy, and it was nice to know that for once, Kaishi had come before her job.