“Well, you know I’m the best, don’t you?” She nodded at the general, as though to give him the correct answer. “Did you really think I wouldn’t figure out that you ordered a ship that was less than two weeks away from my escape pod not to respond? Or that you issued a kill order for Terri Jenkins?”
“Unlike Royce,” the general threatened, “you’re expendable.”
“Not from where I’m sitting, General, but you are.” With her left hand on Kendrick’s thigh less than a foot from the general, she squeezed tightly.
It was then that Kendrick noticed the ring on Amanda’s finger. Something discharged from it, but the soldiers did not seem to notice. The general simply sat, staring blankly. Keyes removed her badge from her jacket pocket and stood.
“Agent Keyes, A.I.I, gentlemen,” she declared. “I’m taking command of this operation. You are both dismissed.”
The two soldiers looked at each other. “General?”
“Dismissed,” Keyes declared with more emphasis.
“Dismissed,” the general repeated blankly.
The two men shrugged, saluted and left the room, Keyes and the general seemingly in some kind of staring contest. Keyes then took the general’s datapad and used it to send for Doctor Yori. Lena shook her head, finally free of the optical attack.
“I need to start wearing filtered lenses,” she said with a shudder.
“That will buy us some time,” Amanda announced. “I seriously didn’t think those two would be that stupid, but someone will double check and I’ll be overridden.”
The doctor entered the room and Keyes took hold of her arm. “I need a wheelchair for the captain and discharge papers, stat! Bill the U.P.A.; I’ll send you the authorization codes now.”
As Keyes used the general’s datapad to send the codes, Doctor Yori said a quick, “Hai,” and bowed before leaving briskly, flashing Kendrick a smile as she left. Lena had already begun helping Kendrick get dressed. He wanted to walk on his own, but when he tried to stand unaided, he felt intense pain and dizziness, and had to fight the urge to vomit. Kendrick plugged into his cyber-suit right as Doctor Yori returned with the chair, which resulted in waves of pain so intense that he nearly blacked out. Only Lena pulling the cord prevented his losing consciousness. He half-sat, half-fell back into the waiting chair, dismayed at this development.
Keyes leaned over and looked at the general. “Paybacks are hell, mother fucker. And karma’s a bitch slap.” She then looked at Doctor Yori, shouting, “Oh my god! I think he’s had a stroke!”
As she and Lena wheeled Kendrick out, one of the soldiers ran in to check the general. The other five, however, barred their way.
“You can’t just take him and leave until we have proper authorization,” one of them said.
The cocking of a pump action shotgun caught everyone’s attention. The soldiers turned to see Father O’Carmody with a large pistol, Heather with the shotgun and Cyrus armed with a fully automatic rifle; equipped with a grenade launcher.
“Eyes straight ahead and hands up,” the big merc growled.
“Consider this your authorization,” barked Father O’Carmody. “Like the man said; hands in the air!”
Keyes had picked up Kendrick’s pistol before leaving the air field, and drew it now. “Come on, boys,” she cajoled. “You wouldn’t want this getting out of hand, now would you? Now, kindly drop your weapons to the floor and raise your hands.”
The soldiers complied, their assault rifles clattering to the floor. Keyes relieved them of their side arms as Lena collected the rifles.
“Into the room with the general,” Keyes ordered. “Count to sixty before coming out. Otherwise, I might have to kill you.”
The soldiers grumbled, but did as they were told, allowing the crew of the Selene to remove Kendrick from the hospital.
“I thought we’d never see you again,” Heather exclaimed as they exited.
“Me neither,” he agreed. “Thanks, all of you. And, Keyes, nice performance!”
“I hope you realize that I just threw my entire career away and became a wanted woman,” Amanda declared. “I’m gonna say you seduced me if we get caught!”
As they opened the doors to exit the hospital, they found themselves being fired upon by a large gang of twenty or more Zduhać, the remainder of the U.P.A. soldiers stationed outside all lying dead on the ground from what they could see.
“Not now,” Kendrick exclaimed.
“Let me handle this,” Cyrus called, stepping out and firing several grenades at the advancing Zduhać mercenaries. The grenades had the desired effect, sending them running for cover as the grenades exploded, spewing shrapnel in all directions. Freeman followed up his grenades with suppressing fire, Ronan taking one of the U.P.A. assault rifles form Lena and joining the fray.
“We’ll clear a path,” Ronan shouted. “Get him back to the ship!”
Lena ran as fast as she could, pushing Kendrick in the chair, as Keyes and Heather covered them. Kendrick had never seen Heather in a fight before, but she handled the shotgun like a pro. Keyes was a very accurate shot, taking several of the enemy out with headshots. The captain still could not believe that they were running right out the front door, but Cyrus seemed to have plenty of grenades.
Once they cleared the hospital’s front entrance, a van pulled up, the side door sliding open, revealing the red-headed woman who looked like Lena’s ginger twin; an Escort-7 gynoid, he realized.
“Get in,” she shouted.
Heather, Keyes and Lena got Kendrick’s chair up and in as Cyrus and Ronan covered, finally getting in themselves, the van speed away from the melee. They passed a string of police rovers, oblivious to the van’s significance, as they sped back to the port. The trip was short and when Kendrick was unloaded, he saw that all of the U.P.A. soldiers were gone, called away by Lena’s manipulation of their coms to “help” Martins, only to run into a Zduhać welcoming party. Ronan and Cyrus rolled out of the van, guns blazing, taking the remaining two men down.
As they ran to the ship, the van sped away; apparently, the gynoid and her associates had not been noticed and opted to blend back in on Mars. Kendrick was sure that he would hear from them again.
“Lena,” Kendrick said, knowing that she was connected to the ship. “Let’s bug out!”
“Yes, sir!” Lena agreed.
He then turned to Heather. “Take me to the Med Bay. I think I need Fiona’s tender lovin’ care.”
“Yes, sir,” Heather said, as they entered the docking tube. She was about to say more, but her voice caught in her throat, then she exclaimed, “Oh my God!”
Ronan, Keyes and Cyrus had gathered around the air lock. Keyes turned to face Kendrick, revealing Fiona’s crumpled body, lying against the air lock, her pallor white, her neck and shirt covered in blood. Fiona had been gagged and her hands tied behind her. Kendrick stood, tumbling forward past the others to get to her.
“No!” he shouted. “Fiona, speak to me!”
He pulled his dead fiancée close, sobbing, running his fingers through her hair. Her body was still warm. He was not even aware that Lena already had the Selene’s engines spooling up and was sending the departure codes and disengaging the docking clamps. Lena helped him to his feet, as Ronan lifted Fiona.
“I’ve got her, Captain,” the priest assured.
Cyrus helped Kendrick to his feet, getting him aboard as Lena took charge of the Selene.
Numbly, he went with the big merc into the ship, Heather right behind them. As soon as the air lock closed behind them, the great ship’s azimuth pods fired, lifting the ship into the air and as soon as she cleared the docking tube, the main engines came online, igniting a maximum burn and sending the Selene racing from the red planet’s surface. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that the U.P.A. would still be after them and that the United States was looking for him as well, but those things were distractions. Fiona was probably dead, taken from him as suddenly as she had appeared in his life. H
e wondered if it might not be worth it just to turn himself in. Without her, nothing mattered anymore.
As Kendrick was shuttled to the Med Bay, Lena took command and gave the order over the loudspeakers for everyone to be belted into a fixed chair as the Selene pierced the Martian skies. With Heather’s help, Kendrick got onto one of the beds where the young engineer strapped him into place and secured the wheelchair. With Mars’ gravity being less than fifty percent of Earth’s, Heather was able to lift Kendrick without any help. She then belted herself into a fixed seat and signaled to Lena that Kendrick was secure. Lena gave the order to Selene over the loudspeaker.
“Selene, Maximum burn in three … two … one … now!”
“Commencing maximum burn,” Selene’s AI replied over the loudspeaker as her engines jumped to maximum output and the ship surged forward, quickly breaking free of Mars’ weak gravity and speeding off into space, leaving the red planet behind in the distance.
With the ship now free of Mars’ gravity, the pods began to spin, slowly working up to their full speed, where Earth’s gravity was duplicated in the spinning sections. Once gravity was fully in place, the crew unbuckled and began going about their business. In the Med Bay, that meant Fiona examining Kendrick; except that it was Heather who looked him over.
“Hayashi did a fine job, as always,” Heather noted, her voice ragged and strained. “But you’ll need a day or two before you’ll be up and about.”
“Yeah,” was all he said.
Heather began sobbing. “I’m sorry, Captain! It’s our fault!”
“How is it your fault?”
“Fiona,” Heather whimpered. “She … she ran off to find you … we couldn’t chase her because we had Mun with us. Mairead followed her and was ambushed by Velos. Fiona interceded and the gynoid escaped.” Heather began sobbing uncontrollably.
Kendrick did not know what to do. He had found his bride, only to lose her before they could wed. He was crying, unable to hold back the tears, but he knew he had to be strong for his crew. Their lives were on the line too. And for Lena … she had no one but him. No, he thought. Her body was warm. She’s not dead yet!
“It’s all right, Heather,” Kendrick said, pulling her close and hugging her. There was nothing more to say or do. Since bringing Heather on over a year ago, the young engineer and the older doctor had become close friends. Kendrick was used to loss, but not Heather. Thankfully, Ronan stepped into the Med Bay.
“I’m sorry, Kendrick,” the priest offered. “This is unfathomable.”
“You’re telling me,” Kendrick said numbly.
“She died a hero,” Ronan said, as though to offer solace.
“She’s not dead!” Kendrick did not shout, but he was very emphatic. “Not yet. Until we get to a hospital, or someplace that can try to bring her back …”
Ronan nodded and shifted the focus of the conversation. “It seems likely that Velos was fulfilling one of the corporate bounties on her death. The U.P.A. certainly wouldn’t give up anything they could use as leverage. What did they want anyway?”
“The U.P.A. wants me because I fully passed the Austin Test and they need me for some job. Apparently, I’m ‘unique’ in all humanity.” Kendrick shook his head and Heather sat up, listening. “I’m guessing that the offer Lorgen was supposed to extend had to do with something similar.”
“So, the plot thickens,” the priest mused.
“More than you know,” Kendrick said.
“About Fiona, Kendrick,” Ronan added. “I did perform last rites after we came aboard, as she seemed to be only moments gone and have said prayers for her soul. We placed her in one of the cryo-tubes to preserve her. In the event that we can’t get her back, I am preparing a funeral mass for her.”
“Thank you, Father,” Kendrick said, choking up. “That means a lot.”
Terri had been worried sick ever since the U.P.A. surrounded the docking tube and made sure to shutter the cabin windows. Amanda had kissed her and told her not to worry before leaving with the apparently android helmsman, and Terri had not seen her since. The ship had suddenly taken off after a full forty-eight hours, Terri hiding in the cabin the entire time.
Suddenly, the door opened and Amanda blew in, a look of amazement her face. “Terri, you won’t believe this,” Amanda began. “But I think I just deep sixed my U.P.A. career!”
“Oh my God! You’re not hurt, are you?” Terri ran to Amanda and held her tightly. “Please tell me we’re not being chased again.”
“No, not yet at least,” Amanda assured, hugging Terri and kissing her. She then walked over to the bed and sat down. “It’s … it’s… weird. The U.P.A. has been my entire life … I don’t know what I’ll do now.”
“Did you … quit?”
“Not in the usual sense,” Amanda said with a chuckle. “But when you side with the guy the U.P.A. is trying to railroad into a shitty job, use a paralysis agent on a general and join with the renegades to disarm the U.P.A. soldiers at gunpoint, that pretty much kills your career.”
“Why?” Terri was alarmed. For Amanda to do this was … unthinkable!
“They tried to kill you, Terri,” Amanda said, a weak smile on her face, her eyes misting over. “They left me to die and were luring you to your death. They hired those Zduhać who took Kendrick by surprise. They almost killed him! I can’t stay when they would do that. That’s not the U.P.A. I signed on with.”
“He … is he alright?” Terri could hardly believe it, feeling horrible for the captain.
“Yeah, though it wasn’t part of the plan. They tried to get the captain to do something, threatening his crew and ship. The captain saved me … he saved you. I know where my loyalties lay, Terri. As I sat in that pod, I had a lot of time to think; especially about how I treat people.” She wiped her eyes with a brush of her hand and shook her head. “After he helped me rescue you, I began to question my loyalties. When I saw what they were going to do to him, I couldn’t sit by and do nothing. I had to take sides. I chose this one. I chose you.”
“Amanda, I …”
“Hush, Terri,” Amanda said softly. “Just let me be in love with you, like you’ve been with me. Lena has asked me to join her on the bridge, at least until the captain recovers, but now that we’re airborne, I grabbed some time to come see you. My shift will end in a few hours and then I’m all yours.”
Terri threw her arms around Amanda, hardly believing that it was finally happening; Amanda Keyes was in love with her! Not just friends with benefits, not just an occasional lover, but true love! If it was a dream, she never wanted to wake.
Chapter 9
Resurrection
With the ship hidden on the opposite side of Mars, Lena downloaded the necessary medical programs from the ship’s computer. If Fiona were dead, then Lena needed to fill the role for the benefit of the crew. But the friendship Fiona had provided to the rest of the crew and the romantic love she had given Kendrick, could never be replaced. Fiona had been a friend and confidant to all of them except for the newcomers; though, even Terri had formed a fast friendship with the older doctor. Then there was Lena herself, who had developed a strong attachment to Fiona.
Like all Escort-7 gynoids, Lena had the capacity for tears, though she seldom cried. Today, she found herself unable to stop, acutely aware of Fiona’s loss. Lena could only imagine how Kendrick felt; to be a hair’s breadth from losing Fiona so suddenly, especially after being a widower, was a tremendous emotional burden for him. Even the connection to his ship had been taken from him, along with one of the things he loved most: piloting.
Lena put these thoughts aside, trying to pull herself together. She was a gynoid, after all; she did not need to cry. Yet, she was designed to cry. She was designed to feel and respond physically to those feelings, be it through smiling, crying, or frowning. This led her to ponder the original purpose for the Escort-7 design; for a mere sex-bot, there was no need for such sophistication. Could the Escort-7 have been designed for something more
?
The gynoid put the question off as she completed the download of a physician and a surgeon program from the Selene’s databanks. The download was quickly accomplished, but what about things like bedside manner? Could she provide the emotional and mental care for her patients as Fiona had? Lena again thought of Kendrick and knew she had to do something. Filled with determination, she left the bridge and went to the cryo-stasis chamber, where Fiona rested in one of the twenty tubes intended for deep space travel. The doctor was only moments gone and her still warm body had been immediately placed into stasis. There was a razor thin chance that the doctor was not lost to them.
Since being brought aboard the Selene, Lena had developed the capacity to love, to be loved and to hope. She loved the captain and she loved Fiona. The thought of him losing Fiona was something Lena could not accept without making every attempt at restoring the exsanguinated doctor. She hoped with all her synthetic being that she could. If Lena was wrong, then they had lost nothing, but if she was right … Lena immediately began the procedures for administering medical care to the pod’s occupant, detaching it from its moorings and floating it to the Med Bay. Through the tube’s glass cover, the slight Fiona looked even smaller and frailer than she normally looked. Lena wept at the sight.
Kendrick remained in the Med Bay, per her Lena’s orders as the Selene’s acting doctor. To his surprise, Lena entered the Med Bay, wheeling in Fiona’s stasis-tube. Seeing his wife through the glass, he was horrified at how much worse Fiona looked than when they found her.
“Lena, what are you doing?”
“Please, Captain,” she pled. “Let me explain. I think we can save her, but we need to act quickly.”
“I’m game,” he said, rolling up his sleeve. “If she needs blood, take all you need.”
“Only what you can give,” Lena declared as she hooked Fiona to the MedBay’s equipment.
No Safe Harbor: The Silver Liner Page 11