by Gun Brooke
Korrian stood on slightly unsteady legs. She took a new uniform into the bathroom and went through her usual morning ablutions. Following her routines normally helped ground her, but whatever dream had put her in this state must have been deeply disturbing, as she found it difficult to shake.
Checking the time, she walked back into the bedroom and placed a gentle hand on Meija’s shoulder. “Meija? Time to wake up.”
“Mmm? Korrian?” She stretched like a lazy cat. “Already?”
“Yes. You sleep well?” Korrian had to smile at Meija’s confused, sleepy expression. Her hair lay in complete disarray all over the pillow, and she had wrapped both arms and legs around the sheets and the duvet during the night.
“Mmm-hmm. Didn’t think I would, but I did. Can’t remember you even coming to bed.”
“No, you were out cold once I was ready.”
“No kidding.” Meija sat up. “So, another day.”
“Yes, and a lot to do. If you’ll get up, I’ll make us breakfast.”
“All right. Sounds good.” Stretching, a long and luxurious pull that left a gap between the pajama jacket and pants, Meija yawned.
Korrian’s mouth became dry, and she hurried into the kitchenette and programmed tea and buttered bread. Then she busied herself with her work sheets, standing at the table with her tea mug. Her heart rate had nearly returned to normal when slender arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Damp, shampoo-scented hair tickled her arm as Meija placed her head on her shoulder.
“Thanks for making breakfast. Next time my turn, all right?” Meija let go and fetched her mug. “Korrian?” she asked wonderingly when she returned. “Am I crowding you? You’re all flustered.”
“No, you’re not. I—I like that you feel free enough around me to touch me. I know I’m not easy to like.” Did the smile she attempted looked as stiff as it felt?
“Not easy to like? Whoever told you such a vicious lie?” Meija put her mug down. “It’s not true. Yes, when I thought you detested me, I was frustrated, but mainly because no matter what, I liked you anyway.” Cupping Korrian’s cheek, she tilted her head and squinted, a look typical for Meija. “I confess to being somewhat of a touchy-feely type of person, if you’ll let me be. That said, I’m quite picky when it comes to who I touch and feel.” She crinkled her nose.
“That’s a relief.” Korrian chuckled, completely charmed by Meija’s flirtatious side. “Let’s eat. We need to get out of here.”
“Yes! Food.” Winking, Meija ran her fingertips along Korrian’s arm. “My next favorite thing.”
*
“Minister Desomas, please…” Meija tried again, but the woman on the view screen merely shook her head impatiently. In her late fifties, her blond hair in a severe bun, she glared at the screen with cold blue eyes.
“Ms. Solimar, I’m sure nobody would ever dream of accusing you of anything. Everybody knows you’re there as my representative to try to talk some sense into that stubborn, ill-mannered woman running the project.”
Meija cringed, as Korrian was standing behind the desk holding the screen, hearing everything. “The LEO officers did seem to home in on me, ma’am, and—”
“Ridiculous. If anything, they were probably thrilled to find someone who could give them an insight regarding whom to target. Why would they think you, a mere speck of a girl, would blast the entire space-dock to bits? That doesn’t make sense.”
In a way Desomas’s blunt words could be interpreted as a complete vote of confidence, but then again, Meija didn’t find being called “a speck of a girl” in that condescending tone a compliment.
“Minister Desomas,” Korrian said, and rounded the screen. “I think you need to listen to Ms. Solimar with a little less disdain. You should also know that she, and she alone, has managed to reach this ‘stubborn, ill-mannered woman’ and convince her to listen to her expertise.”
“Excuse me? Her expertise? I’ll have you know, Commander Heigel, that Ms. Solimar is at the space-dock voicing my opinions, doing my bidding.”
“I had no idea that you hold a degree in social anthropology, Minister. I’m impressed.” Korrian’s tone clearly stated she was nothing of the sort.
Meija tried to step on Korrian’s toe, to get her to stop goading Minister Desomas, but she was out of reach.
“I have had enough of this insolence, and frankly, Ms. Solimar, I expect you to handle little hurdles like this on your own. Good day.” Minister Desomas spoke curtly and then the screen went black.
Korrian shrugged. “Touchy.”
“I wonder why.” Meija sighed. “Korrian, that’s my boss. I’m going to have to live with her—Stop laughing, I don’t mean with her. I mean—oh, you know what I mean. Once my assignment is done, I’ll have to either have a working relationship with Desomas or at the very least get good references.”
Korrian’s teasing smile waned. “Ah, so, once you’re done with the prototype, you’ll move on. I see.”
“Now you’re putting words into my mouth. And besides, with my profession, what can I work with at a space-dock?”
“I was hoping—never mind.”
“No, go on. I want to hear.” Meija couldn’t take it when she saw Korrian begin to shut her out. “If there’s even a remote chance for me to work near you, you have to tell me.”
Korrian relaxed a little. “I’m being an idiot. I’m sorry.” She leaned her hip against the desk and looked down. As she slowly raised her head, her eyes were darker and the skin around them tense. “I see myself working this project until the ships are launched. If that happens before I’m too old, I hope to be on them, hopefully in some kind of useful capacity. I can’t set an exact date, but I strongly recommend that Minister Desomas find another punching bag, because I’m going to need your expertise for the foreseeable future.”
Meija smiled, and her aching cheeks told her it was one of her wide beaming grins. “That sounds perfect. Now I just have to convince that Nacqui woman to direct her hounds toward the scent of the right prey.”
“We. We have to convince the Nacqui woman.” Korrian chuckled. “And I think our future plans sound pretty damn perfect.”
Chapter Seven
“Yes, just like that!” Korrian glanced up at Meija, who actually did a twirl before she placed her elbows on the work sheet. “That’s damn awesome. If you make every partition between the bulkheads that way, you can easily adjust the cabins from singles to doubles. Large families can even have triples.”
“Of course they can have triplets, that’s how they get those big families.”
The way Meija’s jaw lost cohesion and she burst out in a proper belly laugh made the silly joke worth everything. Korrian shook her head and smiled. They’d been working on the blueprints for hours, and it was time for lunch. She didn’t want to stop working too long, which gave her an idea. “Can I ask a favor? Can you go to the break room and run the dispenser for us and bring something back here? I’d like to keep working and not lose momentum.”
“Naturally. What can I get you?”
“Just punch in Heigel lunch special four. And some tea, please.”
“I’ll be right back.” Meija made a production of looking around them. “We’re alone in here.”
“Yes?” Turning her head around, Korrian confirmed this. “So?”
“This, funny lady. Just this.” Meija pressed her lips against Korrian’s, very sweetly and far too quickly. “Lunch special four coming up.” Twirling—again—Meija hurried from the room.
Korrian gazed down at her sketches. To an outsider, it might look like a mishmash of technical specs and three-dimensional drawings, but to her it made perfect sense. It had been such an incredible revelation when Meija had taken only one look and then understood every subtle and clever thought behind it. Not so much from the technical specs that she freely admitted to knowing nothing about, but the three-dimensional drawings together with the floor plans were enough for Meija to grasp everything. What a terrible loss it would
’ve been if they’d let their frustration and anger get in the way of this new understanding. Most of the blame lay with her, but Meija would never agree to that. Meija was convinced that the blame was equal, since they had both spat such disdainful words at each other.
Stretching her perpetually sore trapezius muscles, Korrian studied her plan for the residential area. She frowned and erased a unit in the restroom and replaced it with another that saved space. The more she envisioned herself living aboard one of these ships, the more she came up with compact solutions. She also imagined herself sharing quarters with Meija, and this was yet another motivator that gave birth to new concepts.
Another great idea that Meija had thought of earlier was that they should challenge themselves and make sure every single piece of equipment could do double duty. This suggestion sparked Korrian’s imagination and inspired her to find solutions that she normally wouldn’t have come up with. She suspected that had been Meija’s intention all along.
Meija. Korrian checked the time and realized Meija had been gone forty minutes, which was ridiculous as it took less than ten minutes to prepare the food and bring it back. Frowning, she pressed the communication sensor on her lapel. “Heigel to Solimar. What’s keeping you, Meija? Did you burn my lunch?” Smiling at the thought of Meija’s scowl at the facetious insult, Korrian tapped her laser pen against the work sheet while she waited for the acerbic comeback.
When her hail was met with silence, she tried again. “Heigel to Solimar. Over.” Still only silence. “Meija? Korrian here. Do you read me?” Not sure how often Meija used the communications device, as she normally worked right alongside Korrian and didn’t have the need for hailing anyone else, Korrian strode toward the break-room area. She passed two ensigns, each carrying a tray with their lunch. They saluted her slightly awkwardly, trying to balance several bowls and mugs on each tray.
“Commander.”
“At ease, and hold on to that before you drop it. You getting lunch for the entire mechanic crew?”
“Yes, Commander.” The closest, a young woman, smiled carefully. “May we bring you something, ma’am?”
“No, I’m fine, thank you. Have either of you seen Ms. Solimar?”
“No?” The young woman looked over at the man. “Have you?”
“No. Not since yesterday.”
Korrian’s heart suddenly twitched with pain, as if stabbed by something very small and sharp. “Very well. If you see her, tell her I’m looking for her.”
“Of course, Commander.”
Korrian was already hurrying toward the break-room area. She ran into several other mechanics and engineers, but nobody had seen Meija. Something was catastrophically wrong.
*
Meija blinked and looked up, at first fully expecting to still be in bed. She was rather uncomfortable, though, and where was her pillow? Realizing that she was in fact sitting up, she moaned at the discomfort of something prodding her shoulder.
“Hey. Wake up, girl.”
That voice. Hard to distinguish. Whispering the words and yet with a male tone…who was in her room? Meija tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids were so heavy it seemed an impossible task.
“Come on. Wake up.” More urgent now, the voice seemed closer.
“Tired.” Meija was appalled at how swollen her tongue felt. “Sleep.”
“No time for that. Open your eyes.”
Meija was about to tell the person they had to wait, that she was too tired, when she heard a muted voice that she did recognize.
“Heigel to Solimar. Over.”
Korrian? Prying her eyes open, Meija flinched at the sharp light from above. This wasn’t her bedroom. Not the one on the space station and definitely not the one she shared with Korrian at the dock. Squinting to protect her sensitive eyes, she tried to figure out where she was and who the hoarse, whispering voice belonged to. As she shifted, she realized she was on the floor. A very damp, cold, and hard floor.
“Meija? Korrian here. Do you read me?”
“Korrian. Korrian?” Meija tried to find her lapel to respond to Korrian’s hail, but she couldn’t move her arms. “Ow. What’s going on?” Realizing that her arms were tied painfully tight together behind her back, she bit down hard on her lower lip and forced her eyes wide open.
“There. That’s more like it.” The hoarse voice sounded closer.
Meija’s eyes were finally adjusting and now she saw long rows of piping, leading in all directions. “Where am I?”
“In the basement, I guess you could say. The heart of the dock, in a manner of speaking. All the important manifolds, pipes, fiber tubes, etcetera run through here. Last time was only to get everybody’s attention. Also, it led the damn LEO mercenaries to even greater heights of incompetence when they went after you.” The stranger chuckled. “After they discover what’s left of your body, they’ll assume you had a bit of a mishap when you set the timer.”
“Timer? What are you talking about? Who are you? Untie me!” Meija pulled at the restraints, but they only dug even more painfully into her wrists. Moaning, she changed her approach and tried to move her legs again. Stretched out before her, they felt numb, but she thought she could wiggle her feet if she tried hard enough. It took her yet another second to understand that her ankles were strapped together as well. Panic started to build, but she forced it down. Her mind was less foggy now, so whatever this person had used to tranquilize her was wearing off.
“Why are you doing this?” Meija moaned, thinking it best to sound weaker than she was. The person was still backlit and, except for their uniform, it was impossible to make out any features. Was the hair blond? Or short and gray? The saboteur looked male, but that could be a clever disguise. Meija wanted to sob at the throbbing pain in her temples, but she refused to give him the satisfaction.
“Why I’m doing this? You’re joking, right? Our elitist government decides that the Changed ones are second-rate citizens and dangerous ones on top of that. So they use most of our resources and build these monstrosities to take the rich and famous to some sort of perceived paradise. The road to righteousness demands sacrifice.”
“What are you talking about? What elite? Road to righteousness? Are you crazy?” Meija couldn’t believe the misguided venom that erupted from the person in front of her.
“No, you have it all wrong, like you’ve had ever since you set foot here. Still, the way Heigel kept looking at you, I knew you were the distraction I’d been waiting for.”
“So, you had this planned all along?” Meija tried shifting sideways to get a better look at this individual. “And when you place a bomb here, you’ll take out most of the station. And life support. How the hell will you survive that? Or are you going to sacrifice yourself?”
“Oh, trust me, I’ve thought of everything.”
“A fool’s reasoning. Nobody’s perfect. You always overlook something, and when it comes to what you’re about to do, that something can be fatal, even for you.”
“Shut up.” The voice sank to a low growl, making Meija 90 percent sure this was a man. He seemed to know her well enough, so this wasn’t a stranger.
“Thought you wanted me to talk. You have to make up your mind.” Meija disregarded the pain now and kicked her legs out over and over.
“Stop that. You’re only hurting yourself.” The saboteur leaned over her and placed something on her lap. “Guard this with your life, Meija. I have to go now.”
“No. No!” At a distance she saw clearly that he was male. “Come back. No!” She yelled at the top of her lungs.
A resounding tone from the box sitting on her thighs made her flinch. She blinked away tears of pure fear from her eyelashes and saw a small display on the top begin to count down.
Chapter Eight
Korrian ran along the corridor, having checked all the break rooms and restrooms on this deck. She’d tried the communication channel constantly, but no one answered. Her chest hurt as she ran, and she knew it was from keeping sobs
of fear from erupting. Clenching her teeth, she hurried to the elevator that would take her to the bridge. Inside, she nearly gave in to the panic simmering beneath the surface, but the ping alerted her in time to get a grip on herself.
“Commander?” A startled lieutenant about to enter the elevator stumbled backward as she barreled onto the bridge.
“Captain,” Korrian barked. “I have reason to think the saboteur is about to strike again. Soon. My social anthropologist is missing and—”
“Commander Heigel. Inhale and exhale and speak in a manner that is distinguishable,” Captain Warro said calmly. “Go to red alert.” The last directive lowered the light on the bridge and sent everyone aboard the space-dock to their duty station. “Commander?”
“Yesterday, Meija Solimar, assigned to my unit as Minister Desomas’s representative and subject-matter expert, was heard by the LEO regarding the attack against the space-dock. This after having risked her life to save another young woman in my unit. Today, she went to retrieve lunch from the dispensers, something that should normally take ten minutes. It’s now been at least fifty minutes, and she’s not responding to hails.”
Captain Warro, a tall, burly man with iron-gray hair and neatly trimmed beard, looked at her with narrowing eyes. “Warro to Nacqui. Report to the bridge instantly.”
“Captain—”
“Give me a moment, Heigel. I know it’s disturbing information, but I need Nacqui here.”
“She’s the one who—”
“She’s obeying my directives. Take a seat, Commander.”
Korrian glared at her commanding officer. He might quiet her for now, but she’d be damned if she’d sit down when Meija’s life was in danger.