by Smith, S. E.
She sighed. “I panicked. I didn’t know anyone in law enforcement—maybe the crew had them on payroll, too.” She shook her head. “I deserved to do time for trusting Parklo one more time, even though I told him to not even send me a fucking birthday message ever again.” She reluctantly told him an idea that had occurred to her yesterday. “It’s possible they found me and paid someone to install the surveillance tech. To them, I’m like that runaway cleaning bot the other day—misbehaving property to retrieve and keep better track of this time.”
He frowned as he continued to pet a loudly purring Boz. “I thought you said the tech has been around for at least a year. You’ve been here less than four months.”
“Some is old, some is new. Still could be two sources.” She made a frustrated sound. “I can’t take the cats with me until I know it’s safe.”
Novo leaned against Ferra’s legs. We will teach you to hide.
Ferra sat on the force exerciser’s frame and leaned over to stroke Nova’s downy fur. Thank you. We’ll think of something.
“I’m not safe, either.” He frowned and looked away, a troubled expression on his face. He stopped petting Boz. “At my last post, I blew the whistle on a theft ring. The military sent me here for my safety, but some of the investigators suspected I was part of it. They refused to believe that I had no personal relationship with the commodore, despite her insistence we were lovers.” He swallowed and looked down. “I don’t make friends easily, so I had no one to tell when she pressured me. I don’t know that I would have told them, anyway. I didn’t want to be known as the Tauceti who used hot-connect sex to get promoted.”
“Chaos, that tanks.” She wanted to comfort him, but that was impossible. She shoved her free hand in her vest pocket and made a fist, wanting to deck whoever had hurt him so badly. No wonder her clumsy request for a favor had rocked him so hard.
“I’m no safer for the cats than you are. The surveillance could be them watching me, hoping I’ll make a mistake.” He put his hands flat on his thighs. “If they caught you tampering with my records, they’d send you to military prison for decades.”
His bleak look matched the way she felt.
“I apologize for involving you in this.” She stood and brushed a few hairs off the front of her uniform.
She aimed thoughts at Novo and Boz. Let’s go. I snagged a nice meaty mealpack for you tonight.
She watched as they jumped to the top of the exercise equipment, then launched unerringly into the tube that looked too small. They were truly amazing creatures.
Superior cats, thought Novo.
Yes, you are, Ferra sent, as she closed the wallcomp door and the ceiling grate.
She turned to Tauceti and tried to memorize his too-handsome face, his still-troubled face. She’d deal with the pain of losing him later. “I probably won’t see you again before you leave. Best of luck at your new base on Merganukhan.” She smiled briefly. “I’ll always remember the planet’s real name of ‘Suck Flux, RSI.’”
She scooped up her tech bag and stood by the door until he stood and opened it with a wave of his hand. They walked silently down the corridor to the end of the hall, where the door irised open.
For the sake of their guard audience, she gave Tauceti a slightly peevish look. “Next time, try not to move the force exerciser. It’s not built for it.”
Tauceti nodded gravely but said nothing.
Ferra trudged off, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. Well, the weight of two light-boned cats, anyway.
10
“What I wouldn’t give to be in your place,” said Soares, the CRIO coordinator, with a smile. “Getting off this stinking planet tomorrow and back to civilization again.”
She’d invited herself to sit with Kedron at the midday meal. The Argint d’Apa security chief had invited him out to dinner that evening in Magloviti City. Odd how they only considered him worth talking to now that he was leaving. Honesty made him admit he could have engaged with them and the others when he’d first arrived, and perhaps made friends.
Kedron nodded and gave Soares a polite smile in return. “High Command could still change their minds again.”
Soares laughed. “Good point. Don’t jinx the luck by counting your cashflow chips before you have them in hand.”
Kedron should have been as happy as Soares seemed to think, but he’d spent the previous four days wishing he could stay longer. He’d come up with one idea for Barray’s cats and sent it to her via the command processors in the cats’ heads, for one of them to relay to her. But other than removing one obvious threat, he had no ideas on how to protect the woman herself.
Not that it was any of his business to do so, but he felt responsible. He’d involved her in his investigation into the surveillance source. The fact that he’d failed left her vulnerable to whoever was behind it. She’d trusted him, and he’d let her down.
Soares finished the last swallow of coffee. “Any idea who’s replacing you?”
“No,” he said. “I’m lucky that High Command remembered to send me the updated transfer orders.”
Soares laughed again. “That’s the government for you.” Her bracelet-style percomp blinked. “Gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow to say goodbye.”
She took her tray and left him alone once more. He might have felt it more keenly, but the kitchen and dining hall AIs murmured in his head, something about canine treats for an audit. AIs usually knew about surprise inspections before any of their human counterparts. He’d used it to his advantage more than once in his career to avoid a red flag or two from overzealous inspectors.
He took his tray to the recycler, then headed toward the building’s shipping section to check on his little-used military high-low flitter. Tomorrow, he’d fly it to the planet’s only military base and space port, on the next continent to the west, and leave it for his successor.
He used his comms wire to ask the shipping pad’s flitter stacker to release the flitter into the separate military hangar, which was little more than a garage. The AI complied, but warned him it couldn’t accept it again until after the upcoming maintenance cycle that would put it and the traffic controller out of commission.
His finder sense flashed an alarm. He detoured to a nearby fresher and sealed the door, then queried the rest of the AIs in the complex. Suspicion confirmed, he closed his eyes and filtered through the hundreds of signals until he found the two he was looking for.
Novo, Boz. Find someplace to hide from an all-facility lockdown and inspection. It starts at 0930 hours. They’re calling it a training exercise in the records, but they’re actually looking for illegal chems, and they’ll be using the dogs and hellhounds in a room-by-room search. Warn Barray.
He hoped the cats got the message, because he didn’t know how to make their controller wake them. He’d deliberately avoided getting to know the cats after their introduction, convincing himself it wouldn’t be fair to them.
Now, he saw his behavior for what it was—his old, bad habit of pulling inside his turtle shell. One he needed to break.
He enjoyed solitude from time to time, but not all the time. He liked meeting extraordinary cats, and getting to know smart, laughing women, or at least one in particular.
Their current circumstances weren’t their lot in life, they were only temporary. The likelihood they would meet again by chance was incalculably remote, but he could change that, if he had the courage.
He checked that his comms wire connected properly to the flitter, ensured its general status was green-go, and left it in the hangar for tomorrow. He walked briskly back to his office. He loaded all the portable tech on a borrowed gravcart, even the replacement fan, then presented himself at the tech repair office secure entryway and pinged until someone answered.
A gold-skinned technician whose company name tag read “Yolalo” let him into the office. He frowned at the gravcart’s contents. “What’s all that?”
“Tech from my office. I’m flying out
tomorrow. My procedure says military government tech has to be secured for my successor.” Yolalo didn’t need to know he’d learned from Barray’s tactics and written the procedure himself just a few minutes ago. “Your policy says I have to bring it to you for chain of custody.”
Yolalo grunted and turned toward the back. “Barray! Customer.”
When no one answered, Yolalo muttered about no one ever being around to do their jobs. He unloaded the cart, recorded the asset tags, and locked them all in a sealed container.
Kedron used his time to query the repair depot’s AI about the locations of all its self-directed mobile repair components, which was how it categorized the human repair technicians. He couldn’t do so from outside the office because of all the shielding and tech suppressors.
Unsurprisingly, the technicians were scattered all over the building. Barray turned out to be in the filtration plant, on the top walkway above one of the gigantic filters.
His plan to accidentally run into her just in time for the lockdown would have to wait until she came back. Unless…
He headed toward the plant. As he walked, he called up the liaison manual on his military percomp to add a new procedure.
11
Ferra would have kicked herself for being so blazingly stupid as to get cornered by Lambru’s remoras in the filtration plant, but she needed all her energy to avoid getting hurt or worse.
She’d been with Tech Inzaya on the bottom level, helping fix the lift controls. Inzaya sent Ferra to the top level, then got called away. Ferra had already tagged the presence of several of Lambru’s crew working in other areas. The moment Inzaya left, they’d started to move toward Ferra’s location. She’d be a fool to think it was just coincidence.
She’d need wings to get to the open side windows. The big powered lift couldn’t move until the bottom-level control panel freed it. She could barricade herself in it, but “lift accident” made a pithy title for an injury report. So did “accidental fall,” which was why she opened the cage for the emergency ladder. It was little more than rungs on a giant articulated chain, but it would get her down safely.
Except it was already in use by a well-muscled black-haired woman manually climbing up it. “Heyo, Indenturee Barray, what’s the rush?” She sneered. “Too good for the likes of us who actually work for our restitution?”
Ferra held her hands up and backed up, putting the lift at her back. She didn’t have long to wait.
Lambru himself arrived with the three other remoras. “Don’t bother calling for help. The repair tech monitors can’t hear you in here.” He opened the front of his indenturee uniform to reveal a tech suppressor in his floral undershirt pocket. As was apparently his habit, he got right to the point. “You moved yourself from nonentity to competition when you stole my stash of cleaning bots.”
“Bots?” She didn’t have to pretend confusion. “I thought you wanted me to steal tech.”
Lambru’s eyes narrowed. “I hate liars.” He pointed a curling finger at her. “You’ve been seen with my bots every day this past week.” He pointed to her pass-tracker cuff. “Very crafty, using that to get by the guards to sell my product to the staff.”
Ferra shook her head. “I hunted cleaning bots for the bonus. I don’t know shit about your product. I haven’t sold anything to anyone.”
“Hmmm. Let’s pretend I believe you for the moment.” He tapped pursed lips with a metallic-pink fingernail. “Your previous lack of cooperation represents lost-opportunity costs that require personal restitution.” He pointed to her tech bag. “I’ll take that, for starters.”
We are coming. Boz was in her head.
No, she thought furiously. They’ll hurt you.
She dipped her shoulder and let the bag slip down. It landed half on the catwalk grate, at the edge of the open lift. “It’s all yours. Might be hard to explain at the checkpoint.”
Lambru gave her an oily smile. “You let us worry about that. Your pass-tracker, too.”
Suddenly, blue and red lights began flashing, accompanied by an ear-splitting alarm. An automated voice blared from everywhere.
“Attention, all personnel. This is an all-facility security lockdown. Stay where you are until further notice. You may only move if your present location is unsafe. Motion detection commencing. Tracker location audit commencing. Filtration turbine shutdown commencing. Follow orders. Do not interfere with the guards or the dogs.”
“Fuck,” said the black-haired woman. She looked to Lambru. Two of the crew ignored the announcement and took off at a run down the catwalk.
The blaring announcement repeated, making Ferra’s ears ring.
The irises over the roof skylights began to close. The walkway darkened.
Behind Ferra, the lift suddenly jerked to life. When its safety gate encountered her tech bag, it sounded a loud, buzzing alarm. She eyed the gap.
Lambru lunged forward to grab Ferra’s arm and kick the bag into the lift. The gate closed. The lift sank out of sight.
He grabbed the back of her neck hard, hauled her to the edge of the walkway, and forced her to look down at the waterfall. “If you cross me, you’ll be just like indenturee Healey.” He grabbed the flesh at her waist and gave it a hard, twisting pinch. “She didn’t even make it past the filtration pump before she died.”
He forced her down. His fingernails gouged into her skin. The walkway grate dug into her knees.
She reached out for the cats to tell them to stay with Tauceti. He was a good man. He would keep them safe.
Lambru turned to his three remaining remoras. “You two, go block the other two lifts on this side. Durga, block the ladder. We’re up here to rescue Indenturee Barray, who got stranded up here in the lockdown.” The crew trotted off to carry out his orders.
He tightened his grip cruelly until Ferra cried out in pain. “Stay.” He shook her neck twice, then released her.
The chest-deep vibration of the gigantic turbine changed pitch. The waterfall of swamp water slowed. The shadows deepened as the skylights closed.
If Lambru was going to toss her over, he’d have to do it quickly. Her heart raced, and she wanted to throw up. Just like when her brother abandoned her to the mercy of the jack crew. She didn’t know how to talk her way out of this one.
You are not alone. Novo’s thoughts flooded her with fierce anger and fiercer love.
Ferra’s eyes ached with unshed tears. Thank you for that.
The walkway vibrated briefly. From her position looking down, she saw the lift start to rise from the ground level.
Lambru noticed, too. He warned Durga, who was standing at the emergency ladder, then turned a threatening glare on Ferra and made a “lips zipped” gesture across his mouth.
By the time the lift arrived, Lambru had turned off his tech suppressor and was the picture of fluttering, ineffectual concern. He needn’t have bothered, because the lift’s lights showed it had nothing in it, not even her tech bag.
Lambru swore and stomped to the railing and leaned over to peer down at the lift column’s base.
The vibration of the turbine faded. The waterfall’s volume decreased.
Durga cried out. “What was that?”
“What?” demanded Lambru.
“Something flew by and pulled my hair.” She moved closer to the uprights of the cage, looking fearfully upward into the shadows. “This is where the vampire bats live. They think it’s night.”
“There’s no such—” He screamed and stumbled backward, holding his face. Blood seeped through his fingers.
Duck, ordered Novo.
Ferra sat on her heels and bent over to cover her head.
She peeked to see Boz climbing over the railing, his fur color rippling to match the shadows and crosshatch gray of the screening.
Durga screamed again and scrambled onto the emergency ladder and began climbing down. An eerie keening arose, causing Durga to whimper and descend faster.
Lambru fumbled with something inside his tunic.
The deep claw marks on his face dripped red. The naked snarl on his face foretold violence.
Boz leapt onto the man’s back, digging in with sharp claws and yowling with anger. Lambru howled. Ferra used her teke to nudge Lambru’s stumbling feet. He tripped and fell to his hands and knees, which threw Boz off his back.
Boz opened his wings and flew upward, but she could feel his pain. He couldn’t last.
Hide, Ferra told him.
The automatic inside lighting finally snapped on.
Lambru pulled a small stunner out of his tunic and spun around, ready to shoot, but found no target. He aimed the stunner at Ferra. “What are those things?”
Ferra shook her head violently, letting him see her terror.
He used his sleeve to wipe the blood off his face.
Behind him, as if from nowhere, Subcaptain Tauceti climbed quickly and silently over the railing and onto the walkway.
Ferra concentrated her teke on Lambru’s hand and pushed with everything she had. The stunner arced up and landed on the walkway.
Before Lambru finished his vicious oath, Tauceti jabbed him with a stick. Lambru stiffened, then crumpled like a deflated balloon.
Tauceti stepped over him to crouch close to Ferra. “Can you move?”
She sat up, feeling bilious, but that was better than feeling dead. “Yes. How did you get up here?”
He stepped back while she stood. “I hung on underneath the lift.” He collapsed the stick and slipped it into his thigh pocket.
She edged away from Lambru’s body. “What did you hit him with?”
“Military shockstick.” He darted down the walkway to scoop up the fallen stunner and drop it in his uniform chest pocket. “The lockdown is still in force.” He crossed back to search Lambru’s body and confiscate two more weapons and the tech suppressor.
Her spirits sank. “Do I have to stay here, then?” She shoved her hands in her vest pockets to hide the trembling. Between the adrenaline aftermath and the blowback nausea from overusing her lightweight telekinetic talent, she was a mess.