by Andria Stone
Mark raced to the pilot’s cabin. “Change of plans—we’re diverting to the Space Station. We need to be there five minutes ago.”
Both pilots turned toward him smiling like they’d been given a bonus. The brown-skinned man said, “That’s what we’re trained to do, sir. Get you there quick. Get you home safe.”
The blonde woman said, “Go strap in. We’ll double-time it.”
Mark rushed back to the passenger cabin.
Neither Kamryn nor Axel were in their seats.
Petra had moved over to sit beside Ohashi. Both had their large tablets open while working feverishly to learn when she’d arrived, on which ship, and where she was going.
“Should we contact the TMD?” Ohashi asked, her fingers zipping across the screen.
“No. Not yet.” Mark said. “They should be monitoring the Station. Plus, there are always warships at the Spacedock ready to go anywhere—anytime. Instead, we’ll contact Sorayne when we have more information.”
“Found it,” Petra cried. “A ship. Same type as ours. Just one digit off in the serial number. Registered to a Peruvian company called BioSíntesis, based in Cusco, Peru.”
“Petra,” Mark said, reaching out to touch her knee, “search this ship’s manufacturer for serial numbers sequentially similar to ours. Begin in South America, then work outward. I need to know if we’re dealing with a single ship—or a fleet.”
“Ohashi,” he said, “start a new search in the adjacent countries for the same corporate name or the equivalent in that indigenous language. Also, cast the same type of blanket search we did before, including chemical shipments, genetic engineering or cryopod purchases. If the Peruvian facility is manufacturing clones, there might be a sister plant somewhere close—making cyborgs.
“Ladies,” Mark said, “cover every avenue you can think of. Keep in mind—if she leaves the Station on the identified ship, she might be returning to Peru. We may have to divert again to follow it.”
“Peru is one of the few countries that haven’t banned human cloning,” Eva volunteered.
Axel and Kamryn trudged back with armloads of sidearms, rifles, grenades, plus a couple of nasty-looking rocket launchers.
Mark pointed at the rocket launchers. “Really?”
“In case all hell breaks loose,” Axel said, sounding energized at the prospect.
“Should I ask where these came from?”
“I know a woman—who knows a guy.” Axel offered no details.
“The ship’s leaving,” Petra cried again.
“Is Coulter on it?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they going?”
“Wait…wait…Bolivia.”
“Ohashi, sister plants in Bolivia?”
She snapped her fingers. “Well, look at that. Yep, in Sucre, 600 miles southeast of Cusco. It’s called BioMetalurgia.”
“Name of the corporation?”
“Bio S.A.”
“How many other plants—in which counties—how many ships?”
“One more plant, 850 miles south in Córdoba, Argentina, called BioEstar.” Ohashi added, “Each plant has its own ship.”
“Okay, now, we have to decide what to do next,” Mark said. “This morning we left on a weekend trip to hunt for a home office on Terra. All of a sudden we’re hunting down a psychopathic clone in outer space. Everyone must decide what kind of commitment they’re willing to make. Because these people don’t play games.”
Eva stood. She picked out the smallest holster and spoke while strapping it on. “Have I ever given you any reason to believe that I wouldn’t do whatever it takes to put an end to this?”
“No, you haven’t, Eva. And I’m sorry if I insinuated otherwise.”
“I saw what they did to you on Luna. Then I saw what happened to you on that ship. You’ve changed. You look older. You sound more decisive. There’s less swagger and more resolve in your step. You might have had goals before, now you have a purpose. You’ve matured, Mark.” She chose a gun, slipped it into the holster. “We’ve all changed. Besides, you’re all the family I have left.” She walked over, hugged him and sat down.
The whole group followed her lead. Axel passed on the hugging.
“Now we contact Sorayne. I’ll leave that to you.” Mark motioned toward Axel. “Make sure you tell her not to blow up any of those ships. They belong to us now.”
He got up and headed to the pilot's cabin. “I need to tell them we’re diverting again—to Bolivia.”
When Mark had tackled the cyborg, he’d interrupted a chain of events which could have altered humanities space faring capabilities. Coulter hadn’t succeeded in stealing the augmentation or terraforming research. But if she had, Terra’s future would have suffered. Although they might be going to Bolivia, the Star of Jaipur had been headed to Mars; he had a feeling it would be their next destination. That distant world was on the edge of the future.
The End
Acknowledgements
All the characters in this novel wish to thank the author, Andria Stone, for giving them a voice (applaud!) and they can hardly wait until she turns them loose again in the next episode. (They also hope she doesn’t kill any of them off.)
Now the Author wishes to thank Amanda Ryan as Beta Reader, Tiffany Shand as Editor, and Carolyn Farias as Proofreader, who helped shape this story. Their time, care and influence were invaluable.