The Key

by Pauline Baird Jones

  Or it would. She wasn’t sure who did the adjusting.

  He helped her to get up and sit down, then leaned against his desk, looking at her. Because he was watching, she didn’t rub her head, though she wished she could. The pain was fading, but not that fast.

  “Did you do it?”

  She almost shook her head, but thought better of it. She rubbed her temple, trying to make it a casual movement. “Not yet. I know more, though. They had lots of crap, weapons, ships. It’s all still all down there.”

  “If they had all that, why did they leave?”

  She gave him the condensed version. “They didn’t have the balls to do it again. A lot of that stuff, they built because they could. It was…an intellectual exercise. They’d been buffered from the effects of their work, because they were on the outpost. When it looked like they’d have to pony up themselves and actually use it, see what it could do…they couldn’t. They’d lost the ability to act.” She rubbed her face again. “They could have won it, could have stopped what came out of it then, but they didn’t.”

  “And now?”

  She looked at him. “I can turn it on. I know what to do.”

  He hesitated, but finally nodded.

  What choice did either of them have?

  Sara closed her eyes again. She didn’t even have to reach out. Ruby…grabbed her and yanked her back to the portal room. It didn’t hurt this time. The download must be complete.

  Sara walked up to the portal, as her mind processed more of the data stream she’d been sent. Everyone seemed to think Miri was the last of her people…but that wasn’t right either. She’d been the last scientist. She’d…left the outpost and returned to the main body of her people in their new home…to report to their leader. She’d met and fallen in love with a…Dusan…

  Sara felt a jolt of shock. He wasn’t a Dusan. That was his name. Gaedon was his brother, the older brother and heir to the leadership, known as Gadi. Sons of the leader. Two brothers. One who wanted her, one who wanted what she could do.

  Miri fled them both, but when she got back, everyone was gone. They feared their own power, so they just walked through the portal into the unknown, leaving it for someone else to deal with. That’s why the place had looked abandoned and locked.

  Sara felt the emptiness of the outpost again, this time with Miri’s sorrow and her loneliness…

  Through her eyes, Sara watched Miri lock it all down and then step through the portal. As she left, Sara half reached out to pull her back.

  Why did you have to die? I needed you. I still need you.

  As Sara stared at the opening, she felt…someone close.

  “Ruby?” She looked around and there was…Miri. Not Ruby…her mom.

  “It was you all the time. You…uploaded your consciousness to the systems before you left. You’re the AI.”

  Miri smiled. “No, Sara. I left the…imprint of myself here, but that’s all.”

  “Then who did it? Who hijacked me? And launched the missiles? Who turned stuff on and off?”

  “You did.”

  Fifteen

  Halliwell sat across from Captain Donovan, watching and waiting, not exactly sure what he was hoping would happen, or what to expect. It was probably one of the weirdest moments of his life, despite a lot of serious contenders for the top spot since they’d left the Milky Way.

  Her lids covered her eyes, but he could tell her eyes moved under there. Other than that, she didn’t move at all.

  At least she didn’t seem to be in any pain. She looked relaxed, almost asleep.

  He sure as hell hoped they were doing the right thing. Messing with alien tech always ended badly in fiction. It would have been nice to discuss this with Emerson, but he didn’t dare. Donovan was right about one thing, if anyone had known about her abilities she’d have ended up as someone’s research project. He was walking through a moving minefield, trying to protect her and protect his ship. But in the end, his ship had to come first.

  Now he understood why Briggs felt so protective of her, though he probably wouldn’t call it protecting. If Miri was at all like Sara, he could even understand why they were still fighting over her. She must have been …remarkable.

  And he should have followed his initial instinct and left her ass back on earth.

  Suddenly she straightened, though her eyes stayed closed.

  “You need to clear our people out of the portal room, sir,” she said, suddenly. “I’m almost ready.”

  He quickly got on the radio and gave the order. “Let me know when the room is clear.” After a few minutes he got the word. “It’s clear, Donovan.”

  Would she hear him? Could she hear him?

  She rose from her chair, her eyes still closed. Suddenly her eyes opened and her head tipped back. Her whole body stiffened. Golden beads of light emerged from her skin, like ants swarming on a hill.

  “Hotel sierra…”

  Even as he spoke a bright flash shot out of her chest like a fountain of light. The light surged up into a tornado shaped stream, then rained down, spreading across the floor and up the walls, before sinking out of sight.

  “Oh crap.”

  Just as abruptly as it started…it stopped.

  Donovan stood there for a moment, then her eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled. He jumped and caught her before she hit the floor. He lowered her down, feeling for a pulse. Was damn relieved to find one. At least it hadn’t stopped her heart this time.

  “Sir?” It was the bridge officer on the radio. “Something…happened to our tracking. You need to come see this.”

  “I’ll be right there.” He looked at Donovan. Should he call for a medical team? “Captain?”

  Her lids lifted slowly. “Sir?”

  “Are you all right?”

  She nodded. She didn’t look it.

  “Do you think you can get up? I need to get to the bridge. Something on our tracking—”

  She took his hand and let him pull into a sitting position, then all the way to standing.

  “You should sit down.”

  “I’m fine, sir.” She looked at him. “The outpost is extending your view. Look.”

  A HUD appeared in front of him. He could see the whole galaxy now.

  “That’s Dusan territory there.” Donovan pointed to one sector. “The Gadi here. All this is the buffer the Gadi try to maintain between them and the Dusan. The flashing planets are the outposts, your new eyes and ears.”

  “I thought the Gadi and Dusan held those outposts. Won’t they be able to use them?”

  Donovan smiled. It wasn’t a nice smile. “They’re being…evicted, sir.”

  In the Dusan sector he could see the build up. As he watched more ships popped up on the grid. He counted at least fifty.

  “I wonder what size the ships are—”

  The HUD changed, giving him a read out on each ships capability.

  “At least twenty-five are the big bad boys.” How many ships could the Gadi bring to the fight—

  The grid reformed, giving him an assessment of the Gadi capabilities.

  “Ten ships. If they work with us, that’s twelve ships.”

  The HUD changed again, and this time he could see the island outpost. He studied the weapons read out. Donovan was right. They had some serious crap down there, but it wasn’t an unlimited supply. The HUD changed again. Now he could see ship hangers.

  “Our people haven’t seen any hangers of this size, Captain. Where are these?”

  “Under the sea, sir.” She looked as wide-eyed as he felt. “Look what they can do.”

  “Am I reading this correctly?”

  “That’s what I’m reading, too. Holy crap.”

  The HUD changed again, giving him a breakdown on the smaller ships. There were about a hundred of those.

  “They aren’t as fast our ships, but they’ve got some good stuff,” Halliwell murmured.

  “Maybe Briggs could integrate some of their stuff into some of
our ships?”

  He nodded. “If we can get the Gadi off our ass, we can look into it.” He thought about the galaxy grid and it reappeared. Even with what they’d found… “It still won’t be enough.”

  If it was just about one battle they had a chance to win it, but the Dusan could withdraw and return in greater numbers. As if to emphasize the point, the HUD changed, giving him population breakdown on the Dusan held planets.

  Donovan didn’t speak, just looked at him.

  “We could still withdraw.” He hated saying it.

  She nodded. “It would…postpone the confrontation. I don’t think it will stop it. They know we’re out there. He won’t be satisfied with one galaxy now.”

  “What about all this?”

  “I can lock it again, sir.”

  “But you think we should stay and fight.”

  Donovan was quiet for a moment. “It’s not my place to say, sir. I just know that…leaving the last time only made the problem worse. We’re going to have to stop them eventually.”

  “Based on what I’m seeing here, he’ll be ready to launch in a week to ten days tops. Only ship that could reach us in that time is the Boyington.” They’d come, but it would cut us off from earth.” If they lost…

  “Tops…” She frowned.

  What was she thinking?

  “Do you know what the Dusan reminded me of? The Soviet Union. Supreme Leader. The…top…dog.”

  He was with her now. “You think if we could take out Xever, the attack would collapse.”

  “Or at least cause enough confusion to tilt the odds in our favor.”

  He studied the idea. “I can’t see the Supreme leader risking his supreme ass in the fight.”

  “No.” Donovan seemed to sigh and her face…hardened. “Unless there was something he really wanted…that he couldn’t risk someone else getting.”

  She looked at him, her chin slightly lifted. When she set her mouth, when she was being really stubborn, her lower lip jutted out and the edges pulled down. It made her look determined, but also…sad.

  The fact that she didn’t get her own appeal only upped it.

  He stared at her for a long moment, seeing not just a pilot, but a young woman. When she’d sang for his dinner, she’d kept it soft, but everyone had stayed silent, listening, as if they couldn’t help themselves. She’d just gotten married—and looked happy for the first time in his memory of her.

  Most of his people were young and willing to put their lives on the line. But she’d be putting more than her life on the line.

  “If we lost—”

  “That would suck.” She smiled now.

  She paused, then said, almost too evenly, “Adin wants the outposts, he wants to control the tech. If he didn’t get it before we came, he gets it now. It’s more…power for him. He’s going to be particularly ticked right now, because I kicked his ass off all of those outposts. He’s got nothing but his big ships and men he’s forcing into the fight. You and I know that free men fight harder and better than conscripts.”

  She paused, as if thinking.

  “If he found out I wasn’t dead, that he got tricked by a woman…I’m thinking he’d be very motivated to come. Maybe too pissed to think clearly.”

  “We’ve got no way to let him know, Captain.”

  “I’ll bet the Gadi have…sources.”

  She looked at him calmly, but all he could think about was how she’d looked telling Briggs her story. How she’d rocked back and forth at just mentioning Xever’s name, her face drawn and white, her eyes still haunted by some horror she couldn’t put into words.

  He thought about the women they’d left behind and their blank eyes.

  He hesitated, but it had to be said. “We both know Xever doesn’t just want tech and weapons. He wants you. You don’t have to do this.”

  She may have paled a bit. “Be a good time for him to learn he can’t always get what he wants.”

  It was the beginnings of a plan, though he still didn’t like it. They’d have to draw Xever away from the main battle. To one of the outposts?

  “I’ll get our people together. We have time before the big visit. I’ll need to confer with Emerson. I’ll try to protect you as much as I can, Donovan.”

  “I know you will, sir. And I know the mission comes first.”

  She smiled. Didn’t mention the honeymoon she wasn’t getting.

  “You’re a good soldier, Donovan.”

  She smiled, a real smile, not the soldier smile.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “You’re dismissed. If I need you, or I need the HUD—”

  “You can think the HUD back anytime, sir. Me, you’ll have to call on the radio.” She came to attention, saluted, then turned and left.

  Donovan was right. Xever would never risk anyone else getting control of her. He’d come himself. She wasn’t just the right bait, she was the only bait that would work.

  * * * *

  Sara headed for her quarters feeling slammed from too much to process too quickly. Her brain-housing group was still sorting through all the data she’d uploaded from Miri, but the hardest to get past was Miri’s assertion that Sara had done it.

  “We all have conscious and unconscious desires, Sara,” she’d told her. “Because of the nanites, you were able to do something about your unconscious ones.”

  “But why wouldn’t I answer my own questions?”

  “You didn’t really want to know the answers then, but now you do.”

  “So, you’re just something I…wanted and conjured up?”

  “To some extent. I built this system, so it knows me very well, or you couldn’t have done it.”

  “So, you’re…just Miri’s…hologram?”

  “I’m as close to it as the system can make me.”

  Which was still closer than Sara had been to her mom in twenty years. Seeing her like that had unlocked Sara’s real memories of her mom and the man she’d called dad. It was hard, but in a good way. She just wished she’d been old enough to tell if Miri—Miriam was her earth name—had been really happy with Kyle Donovan. She’d like to know her mom found, not just safe harbor, but real love.

  Since she’d turned the key Sara felt…like a light bulb that had been turned on. She felt connected in so many directions. It was way weird, but made for great situational awareness.

  She ducked into the head and studied her face, but she didn’t glow or anything. She didn’t look married either. She did look hammered. Wasn’t sure there’d be time to feel married or get less hammered before it all hit the fan.

  And she needed to figure out how to explain it to Fyn.

  Fyn was not going to be happy. She had a feeling the nightmares wouldn’t be going away any time soon either.

  The Old Man had been more than decent about everything, but she might still find herself a lab rat, which would really suck.

  And her head still ached, either from getting slammed or thinking too much. She exited the head, rounded a corner and came face to face with Hawkins.

  She stopped. “Hi.”

  His face lit up. “Hey, I was hoping I’d run into you. Got time for a cuppa go juice?”

  “I…can’t. I’m sorry.” She tried to think of a way to explain, but couldn’t. “You going to be at the Gadi reception?”

  “If I got an invite, I haven’t seen it yet.” He studied her face for a moment. “So are they here about the Miri thing?”

  Sara kind of shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. Yeah.”

  “Well, if you need someone to run interference for you, be happy to oblige.”

  “That’s…sweet. But I have someone—have you met Fyn?”

  “Chewie? Yeah, just a bit ago. He’s flying your bird. He’s…big. Didn’t seem to like me much.”

  Sara smiled. “He’ll warm up to you in time. Probably. Maybe.”

  His eyes widened. “Oh. You and him…”

  Sara nodded. “Sorry.”

  No one had said if she co
uld tell anyone she was married. That seemed like a huge oversight. She made a pass through the infirmary to get something for her headache, then stopped and got something to eat. There was no one she knew, so she got to sit alone. Which wasn’t as good as she’d thought it would be. Then Briggs called her on the radio and asked her to ungoon a flight computer for her. She didn’t get back to her quarters until she had forty-five minutes to get ready for the Gadi leader’s arrival.

  She could have used a few days. Or months. Even years would have been nice.

  She dug in the cabinet and found her clean ABU’s just as someone buzzed her door. It was Fyn.

  “Hi.” Her heart jumped in her chest. It must have slammed into her lungs, because breathing got…difficult. The look in his eyes didn’t help.

  He stepped inside and closed the door. “Can you lock that?”

  Yes, but why…

  She licked her lips. “I…have to get ready for the…thing.”

  “We got a half hour to spare.”

  “Do we?” To do what?

  His brows arched. “It going to take you more than fifteen to pull on ABU’s and gear up?”

  She shook her head. Her throat was suddenly too dry to talk. It felt…oddly warm in her room.

  “That’s what I thought.” He shifted closer.

  Sara shifted back. The cabinet felt thankfully cool against her back, but it did limit further shifting. Fyn put one hand on the cabinet by her face and leaned in, his lips curving in a sort of half smile.

  Oh.

  Sara licked her lips again. “I’m not sure I’m ready…I don’t feel…that married yet. I might need—” She actually didn’t know what she’d need. A few words from the padre suddenly didn’t seem enough to take her from ‘no, I’m not that kind of girl’ to ‘go for it, hot guy.’

  He grinned. “I can make you feel married.”

  “What’s the big rush?” Okay, she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. She felt color rush her face.

  His brows arched and his grin got…grinnier.

  “We only have half an hour.” She swallowed dryly. Her insides quivered. “Will that be…enough…time?”

  “Well, that depends.” He ran a finger down the side of her face, setting off little earthquakes of quivers. Her middle got spongy, too.