by Matt Verish
“Seeing as a public display of their involvement would cause a massive scandal and spur an investigation, I assume someone in the Research sector sought you out in private,” Cole said, filling in the blanks. He shook his head. “I can only imagine what their pitch for such an insane idea was like.”
Lin’s ears heated. She was not about to tell him that in her then-fragile-state, the overly complex plan presented to her seemed both reasonable and justifiable. “I only knew that I had to free my father at any cost.”
“What was the cost?” came the inevitable question.
“That the Dartmouth family work in secret for the Research sector indefinitely.” Saying the words aloud obviated the ulterior intentions of her so-called benefactors. “They had hoped to gain my father’s secrets and strike down the Terracom monster with the Singularity’s sword of ingenuity.”
“You don’t think he was under Research’s thumb all along, do you?”
“No. Up until his abduction, he had been working outside the government’s reach. Only his followers were in direct contact with him.” The answers came easy enough, but Lin could not back up her words—not after what she witnessed inside the DC-Alpha-6. She decided to push past this part of the discussion lest it bring her back to tears.
“The plan to free my father was highly convoluted and designed to unfold over the course of several years to avoid any unwanted attention. Because of my revered family name and Research’s close relationship with the Business sector, I was given an engineering position at SolEx. Initially, the work I did for the company was legitimate; I had to prove my worth like everyone else. Of course, promotions seemed to seek me out, and I eventually graduated to Senior Engineer.”
Lin took a breath and forced herself to slow down. She had never revealed the plans of the rescue to anyone before, and she found the process to be quite cathartic.
“When I first met Arthur Forester, I was under the impression he was a legitimate Director of Operations, so controlled and secretive was Research’s involvement. Other than a single contact—whom I’ve never met other than through Ocunet—I had been acting out my role solo and with minimal updates. There were long stretches where I unaware if the mission was ever truly happening, and I had wondered whether I had been played for the fool.”
She stole a quick glance at Cole and found his expression calm and unreadable. She turned away and continued when his hazel eyes met hers. “Fortunately, Director Forester....”
“You know, you don’t have to refer to him as ‘director’,” Cole said, interrupting her. “He’s not your superior.” He chuckled. “He’s probably a government spy—more likely a mercenary—and I highly doubt his name really is Arthur T. Forester.”
A spy? Lin thought, unnerved. I never even considered the possibility Director Forester might not be who he says he is. Research had sent him as their “middle-man” to keep things quiet and their name clean of any involvement if he were to fail. Regardless, she knew Cole was right. Forester—or whoever he was—had abandoned the cause, and she needed to move past Research’s meddling in her life. If that was even possible.
“Look, Doc,” Cole began, “you really don’t need to explain the logistics behind your little caper.” His gaze settled on the volcano, and he seemed to be searching it for his next words. A boyish grin spread across his face. “It doesn’t matter to me why you didn’t attach the capacitor to the generator prior to the mission’s outset, or how you even acquired such a tool to elicit an EMP deflection from it in the first place. It also doesn’t matter to me why you would trust someone like Emmerich to assist you when it’s clear she’s a psycho.” His smile vanished. “It also doesn’t matter to me why someone as bright as you would carelessly throw caution to the wind for someone about whom you knew very little and was known as the Singularity.”
I suppose I deserve that last comment. Still, Lin felt the need to defend herself. “Without Inspector Emmerich, there would be no capacitor. Despite her radical views toward Terracom, her involvement was critical. Her inside connection with the Military runs deep, and she commands deep respect with that sector. As a result, she managed to procure the highly dangerous and illegal capacitor. We were quite fortunate to recruit her.
“As for the generator, I had unprecedented access to the cargo hold as I concluded my work on CAIN inside the ICV-71. It had been delivered earlier and pre-inspected inside the SolEx Space Station before being loaded. Because of my high level clearance, I drew no suspicion during my time aboard the ship. I was able to make simple modifications without recourse.” She approved of his confusion. “Yes, the generator was very much a functioning product manufactured by Terracom. SolEx had only recently convinced Terracom to be their personal logistics provider in order to warehouse and ship future technical commodities such as generators.”
“Consignment, you mean?”
“Correct.” Again with his display of knowledge. “We had carefully plotted every last detail, though obviously, that’s a lie. There were, of course, the variables, as you indicated.” She sighed and came to a halt, emotion overwhelming her. “As for my father, I...I have no explanation for him or my lack of awareness regarding his...actions.”
They continued down the path and came upon a bench with a worn plaque affixed to its back. Cole approached the bench and wiped off the debris. He presented it to her, and she gladly accepted, the weight of her situation suddenly crushing her shoulders. When he sat beside her, she noticed that he kept a proper distance.
Chivalrous despite my having sentenced him to a life of servitude. She admired his profile, keeping her head tilted downward to conceal her discerning eyes. He wasn’t young—a bit older than her, though most certainly not old. Not quite forty, perhaps, though he had the lean, athletic build of someone in their twenties. His company-emblazoned flight apparel did its best to hide his physique. The faint imprint of crow’s feet perched near his eyes, though they were barely noticeable on his dark skin. The sprinkle of salt upon his temples in his otherwise short, jet hair was another indication of his creeping maturity. She wondered what story he hid behind his intense, hazel eyes.
“What do you think Research wanted with your father?’ Cole asked, snapping Lin from her daze. “It sure seemed as though he knew of their involvement in freeing him.”
Lin looked down at the Rook in her lap, embarrassed. She traced a finger across the smooth surface. “He initiated the entire coup from inside the debt colony. Despite being incarcerated, my father managed to build a strong rapport with the people there. In doing so, he earned certain liberties—limited access to communication being one of them.”
“Ocunet?”
Lin nodded. “I was always aware of his alter ego, though I assumed it was an appellation given to him by his peers who respected his unparalleled research. In actuality, they were little more than zealots brainwashed by him. I ignored all the warning signs; he embraced the title as an actual position.” She looked away, hooking a stray lock behind her ear. “I was completely blind—ignorant, really—to his hidden life as a cult leader.”
“You know,” Cole said, after a moment of silence, “I like this version of you; much more than the robotic science professor persona you initially wielded. Makes me hate you less.”
She turned to him, eyes bulging. When she caught the hint of a smirk creeping into the corner of his mouth, she breathed a bit easier. Then a thought occurred to her. “Why is it you aren’t angrier with me?”
Cole stared at his glove as he squeezed it into a fist, producing that tell-tale sound that was his signature. “Honestly, I have no idea. I should be livid.” He met her gaze, and Lin swallowed. “But I’m not.” He frowned, and she could see for the first time the fear and confusion behind his confident exterior.
“This whole experience rescuing your father has paved a direct path to my doom,” he said. “And I could have—should have—made a greater effort to put an end to it before it got out of hand. But I didn’t.” He relax
ed his hand and eased back against the bench, looking off into the distance. “That’s what’s troubling me the most.”
Lin read between the lines. “You’re saying you allowed this mission to happen.”
Cole shrugged. “Maybe. Deep down I knew you had no definitive evidence to place all the blame on me, but I chose to ignore it. Too many signs pointed to that obvious conclusion. No amount of investigating would be able to unearth direct evidence of my involvement. My time with SolEx has been spent with endless overtime, under constant supervision. My clearance throughout the company was barely above a loader’s. Until today, that is. Hell, even my private life is under constant supervision from authorities! I couldn’t break wind in public without someone noticing it was me.” He sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “But after thirteen years of attempting to erase my past mistakes, I finally got the chance to permanently seal my closet full of skeletons.”
And I dragged them out for the whole of the System to see. Lin felt horrible.
Cole shook his head, seeing her expression. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“What? How can you say that? Of course it’s my fault.”
“That you wanted to save your father?” He laughed an empty laugh. “At least you didn’t murder him. My mother... I have to live with that guilt.” He took a breath and sat up straight. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I think I wanted—”
The ground trembled with the sound of a distant eruption. Lin shared his visible concern. I know that noise, she thought, her stomach twisting in knots. CAIN. Report to me the cause of the disturbance.
The AI gave no reply.
Cole was already on his feet, focused on the nature center. “We should probably get back and check on things. I think we might be in trouble.”
“How do you know?” she asked, unnerved by his tone.
“I’ve lost contact with Cain.”
14
OFFLINE
The quickest path to the ICV-71 was directly through the nature center. Cole patted his sidearm as he entered the building, though he was not entirely sure why. He had no reason to fear being attacked, and if he and the others had been tracked by Terracom, shouldn’t he be relieved to finally be rid of his captors? CAIN would provide all the evidence needed to clear his name. Well, that was his hope, anyway. And yet, here he was protecting the brains of the very operation from which he was hoping to escape.
I really need to have my head examined.
Scanning the quiet center was an easy task being that it was all open space, made to feel like you were outdoors. His eyes fell upon the couch to which Inspector Emmerich had been tied. All that remained were her bindings. Her caregiver was also missing. A million thoughts raced through Cole’s mind as he considered the mechanic’s fate. None of them were good.
“The lift to the lab was down when we left,” Lin said to him from behind. “Someone’s been down there.”
“And was in a big hurry to leave,” Cole added. He glanced back to see her approaching the lift with dread on her face. He knew why. Her father’s Rook. “I’ll check the ship,” he told her, though she seemed not to hear him.
“Rig?” Cole called, knowing he wouldn’t receive a reply. There was another deep rumble, followed by the wail of powerful thrusters coming to life. He paused by the front entrance, seeing beyond to the heavy clouds of dust swirling. He did not wait to find out if it was indeed the ICV-71. He covered his face with his forearms and crashed through the door, losing his footing from the force of the gales. He tumble back inside the center and crawled to the side, out of harm’s way. Brilliant idea, idiot.
With his back to the wall and palms pressed against his ears, he watched martian soil blow through the open door, disturbing the once peaceful nature center. He saw the lift had lowered with Lin inside. He could only imagine what she was thinking as her family’s inheritance was slowly buried. Fortunately the main doors closed, muting the roaring engines. The dust cloud inside, however, would not settle for a long while.
Then it was suddenly quiet.
Landing or liftoff? Cole wondered, too distracted to have examined the audible clues. He coughed and stood, careful to hide himself behind the door leading out. He risked a quick glance through the glass panel to see outside. The wind was carrying away the remaining dust, and he could that the ICV-71 was still where he had landed it. There was no sign of any other vessel in the immediate vicinity. I’m not imagining my ears ringing.
He pulled his sidearm from the holster and slowly pushed open the door. It was not until he descended the steps of the porch that he noticed something peculiar about the ship. The landing gear legs were extended to allow clearance for larger cargo. Even from his vantage, he could see the payload bay door was still open, the lift arm still extended and without the attached scout ship. Liftoff, he confirmed.
Looks like Emmerich went for a joyride. Guess Forester wasn’t the only one to neglect mentioning his pilot capabilities. He slid his sidearm back into the holster and approached the ICV-71. A part of him wondered if she had been the one responsible for taking CAIN offline in order to access the scout ship manually.
He glanced into the ship’s underbelly to verify his hypothesis before realizing his dilemma: how was he supposed to enter the ship now that it was raised up and offline? He would have to figure out how to do a manual override from one of the three landing legs. I shouldn’t have glossed over that section of the briefing tutorial.
“This is how I prefer to view you, Musgrave.”
Cole pulled a neck muscle, so fast did he flick back his head. The inspector was gazing down at him, crouched down at the edge of the payload bay door. She wore a dangerous smile. “What are you, a distant relative of Houdini?”
“I’m a resourceful soldier who’s not so easily deterred.”
“That you are, Inspector,” Cole said, glad to keep dialog flowing while he put together the pieces of this complex puzzle. He was not too worried about her reaching him, as the distance from payload bay door to ground was a good fifteen feet or so. The jump would further damage her ankle. He leaned against one of the landing gear legs. “So, what are you doing up there?”
Cole had to sidestep a mouthful of saliva and phlegm as a response. “You’re not still pissed at me, are you? I seem to recall that you were the one making a case for emptying out my skull despite me trying to talk sense into you.” He pointed at her face where Rig had left his mark. “Remember, it wasn’t me who gave you that shiner.”
Emmerich stood and glowered at Cole. “Such a hero. I wouldn’t be in this predicament if it weren’t for you.”
Cole laughed. “Rig hit you harder than I thought. We were both used, remember? I wanted to enjoy my promotion while you plotted genocide. For better or worse, we both lost. We can thank Research for that.”
Emmerich’s brow furrowed, the dark stain that was her bruise contorting on her face. “Research. What does the government have to do with anything?”
“Arthur and Lin are both working for them.” He pointed up at the empty bay. “I’m guessing the missing scout ship has something to do with the rescue mission.”
The inspector seemed to hear Cole’s words, though her scowl remained. “I followed that slippery bastard onto this ship looking for some answers. I thought he was going up to the bridge, which was where I thought you and the others were....”
“Wait!” Cole said, holding up his hand. “You saw Forester board this ship?”
She gave a curt nod. “I was in the midst of freeing myself from that godforsaken couch when he came slithering back into the building. I pretended to be unconscious while he searched around.”
Cole felt a tingle up his spine. He came back while Lin and I were out walking. “Searching for what?”
“I’ve no idea, and I don’t care.” She spat before composing herself. “Whatever it was he was seeking, he must have found in that hidden lift.
The cube! Lin must’ve been lying about the
contents transfer, and Forester saw through her lie. “So you followed him back here, and...?”
“Obviously his goal was to commandeer the scout ship,” she said, indicating the empty bay. “I must have walked right past him as he was preparing to disembark. I only realized his game after I set foot on the empty bridge.”
“Shit!” Cole pounded the butt of his first into the steel leg. “I need you to lower the ship so I can board. I have to check the bridge.”
Emmerich knelt back down, a wicked grin on her face. “Why?”
Wow, she must really hate me, even after this revelation. “Look, we’re in the same boat despite our differences. We don’t like each other, and that’s fine. But I’ve lost contact with Cain, and I need to see why. If he’s completely offline, anyone will be able to trace our signal unhindered.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you want?” She crossed her arms. “To lead the authorities directly here so you can be rid of us—”
Cole drew his sidearm and fired without warning. The blast grazed the side of Emmerich’s temple, singeing her short hair. Her eyes widened in shock, her hand subconsciously checking for injury. Her mouth opened, but it was Cole who spoke first. “I absolutely missed on purpose.” He kept the weapon trained on her, though it was lowered toward her chest. “I won’t with my second shot, so don’t even think about running. Lower. The. Ship.”