Bridgebuilders

by Marlene Dotterer

  Ned had already nixed the idea and was ignoring Sam’s diatribe, busying himself in a discussion with Phil and Lisa. Pete was likewise ignoring him while he ran a search for more RFIs on bomb components.

  Andy placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s not happening, mate,” he said. “Ned’s right. It won’t do any good to find the women but have the station blow up around us because we didn’t get the bombs out of here.”

  “Just like that?” Sam swallowed the bitter bile that rose in his throat, and shrugged off Andy’s hand. “Maybe at your age, girlfriends are a dime a dozen. But it’s not like that with Sarah and me.”

  “No, damn you.” Andy shoved him, not hard, but seeing the anger on his face made Sam curl his hands into fists.

  “I’m scared, too.” Andy said. “I’ve never been this deep into the rebellion, the way Pete and Karen are. I’m not used to this, and Moira’s not prepared for it at all. But I know Pete. And I know Karen. She’s never let anyone push her around. If Pete doesn’t seem worried, it’s because he knows her abilities better than anyone. He trusts her to handle bad situations.”

  Sam glanced at the door, with the Sunnies still on the other side, keeping them trapped in hydroponics. He tried to think of an argument, but finally just sighed, and rubbed his eyes.

  “I won’t tell you they’re probably fine,” Andy said. “Because I don’t know if they are. But whatever trouble they ran into, I do know that Karen will do everything she can to get them out. And that’s saying something.”

  “All right.” Sam nodded and looked around the room. “I just need to do something. I feel so helpless.”

  Pete glanced up from his Pad. “I’ve found another one. That should keep you busy, if we can manage to get to it.”

  They all turned to Ned, who bounced on his toes and nodded toward Phil. “This bloke’s got the right idea. Pete’s got the coords for the bomb. Sam can just port us over there, and we don’t have to worry about our Sunnie friends out there.”

  Sam pursed his lips as he thought about it. “All right ...” he said. “But we need to know what we’re porting into. There must be enough room. And what if there are Sunnies there?”

  Ned called up his holo map. “Where are the coordinates, Pete?”

  They all gathered around the display as Pete sent the coords to the map. A red dot appeared, flashing deep within the upper right quadrant of the station.

  Ned whistled. “Bloody hell. Those are living quarters.”

  “Families?” Sam asked.

  Everyone nodded as they stared at the dot. Ned flushed red, highlighting the freckles on his face. “Those bastards are framing me for this? Killing children?”

  Pete shook his head. “No one would believe them, Ned. You’re in the news all the time, and whatever people think of your activities, they all know you don’t hurt innocents.”

  “It’s like your wee calling card,” Lisa said.

  “What is in that room?” Sam asked. “I need specifics.”

  Ned tightened his lips, as if to suppress his rage, and adjusted the map to zoom in. “Looks like a bedroom.”

  “Is there furniture? How much space is available?”

  “Can’t tell that from this map, mate.”

  “Well, I can’t send anyone where I don’t know the layout. It has to be a clear space.”

  “What about the corridor outside the flat?” Andy asked. He thrust his hand into the display and traced the corridor with his finger. “Just outside the flat entrance.”

  “That will be clear,” Ned told Sam. “With the station on lockdown.”

  “Except for potted plants,” Pete said. Sam threw him a puzzled look, and Pete explained, “To help with O2. You remember seeing potted plants in the corridors while were searching?”

  Sam nodded. “Sure. We do the same thing in our universe.” He pointed at the corridor Andy had traced. “The pots are always along the walls, right? To keep from blocking the corridors?”

  “Yeah,” Ned said. “You can port people to the middle of the corridor, can’t you?”

  “Yes, but the next problem is how do we know there aren’t people in the corridor? I don’t care if they see us, but I don’t want to port someone into a space that’s already occupied.”

  “What would happen?” Ned sounded curious.

  “It would probably kill both people.”

  “Bollocks.” That came from Phil, who looked as if he was having second thoughts about using the portal.

  Ned raised a brow at Phil. “Station’s on lockdown. There shouldn’t be anyone in the corridors. Still ...” He tapped his Pad to put it one speaker. After a moment, they heard Arkady answering.

  “I need a clear hallway at these coordinates,” Ned said. “Can you do anything? And while you’re at it, who lives in Flat 62, and is anybody there right now?”

  “Hang on.” Everyone stared at the 3D display, lost in their own thoughts while they waited for Arkady to come back. Sam counted to twenty-eight before Arkady spoke again. “The hallway is clear. We’re on lockdown, so they’re all inside. There’s no one home in 62, though. It’s occupied by Candace Lightfeather and her teenage son, Ryan. Candace is one of our doctors.”

  Ned and Pete exchanged a glance and Pete shrugged to indicate he couldn’t make sense of it, either. Sam went to work inputting the coordinates of the hallway, half listening to the rest of the conversation.

  “There’s a bomb in one of the bedrooms,” Ned said.

  “Shit.” Arkady’s voice was soft. “Is it live?”

  Pete shook his head.

  “No,” Ned said, “but we’re on our way to get it. We’ll port to the hallway. Can you unlock the flat for us?”

  “No can do, mate. Only security can do that, and I don’t recommend asking them. Can’t you just port inside the flat?”

  “It’s not safe to do that, evidently. I’ll explain later. So we’ll just have to break in.”

  “That’ll set off an alarm in security,” Arkady said.

  Ned grinned over at Phil and Lisa. “Guess we’ll have to be ready for them,” he told Arkady. “One more thing: we’ve got an injured mate. Can I port him to your location? Just clear a space for him.”

  “Oo-kaay.” Arkady sounded doubtful, but they heard him instructing people to clear the center of the room. Sam got busy deleting his previous coordinate entry and told his CERBO to access Arkady’s location. Arkady’s voice came back to them. “I’ve got a space about two meters in diameter. Will that work?”

  “Yeah, hang on.” Ned moved over to Trevor, who was laying down where they’d left him, under the aloe vera plants. Andy had found a first-aid kit and put a pain-patch on his shoulder, then covered him with a blanket. Trevor was half asleep, and Ned shook him gently as he knelt next to him.

  “Can you sit up, mate? Just for a few minutes, then they can take care of you.”

  Trevor mumbled something and reached for Ned’s arm. Ned propped him up against the planter box, but Sam shook his head. “He’ll have to move away from the box or I’ll have to send it with him.”

  “I can do it.” Trevor sounded more awake and he scooted forward a couple of feet. He wobbled a bit, but gave Sam a tight nod. “Ready.”

  They all jumped at the clap of thunder, but grinned at each other to hear the astonished shouts coming through Ned’s Pad. Arkady’s voice came through over the racket. “You have got to tell me how you do that.”

  Ned grinned. “I’ll buy a round when all this is over and let Sam answer all your questions.”

  “Sure you will. Stop fooling around and go get that bomb.”

  “On our way.” He snapped the connection closed, and sent Sam a look of regret. “We should have done that with the women. I didn’t think of it.”

  Sam stood very still, his own regret weighing him down.

  Next to him, Andy shifted. “New technology,” he said, brushing a shoulder against Sam. “Even in your universe, it’s new, isn’t it? We can’t know all the ways it c
an be used.”

  Sam nodded, blinking down at his Pad. He flipped the data back to the coordinates for the hallway. “Let’s get moving,” he said. Even to himself, his voice sounded bleak.

  The others stepped closer. Lisa and Phil flanked them, facing outward from their circle, tasers ready.

  Ned took a breath. “Go.”

  Sam closed his eyes for the port, but opened them as soon as he heard exclamations from the people around him. He suppressed a grin. It took a while to get used to. He was relieved to see the corridor was empty. Pete joined with Lisa and Phil to guard them while Ned did something dirty and fast to the door. It slid open and Ned stood, jerking his head to point Sam inside. “There’s an alarm going off in Security right now,” he said. “You’re on the clock.”

  Andy rushed in. Sam followed, unsettled at the simple normality of the flat. A living room with a kitchen off to one side, and a small dining table in between. Ned pointed to a hall, eyes on his Pad. “Down there. Second door on the left.”

  As the map had told them, this was a bedroom. Had to belong to a teenage boy, Sam thought, taking in the scattered clothes, oversized shoes, one on a chair, the other half under the bed, and a dart game on the wall.

  He glanced at the bridge machine. “Bloody thing is under the bed.”

  This time it was Andy who lay down to look. He didn’t crawl under, just lay on his side and peered into the darkness, then shook his head as he sat up. “Hooked to the mattress. No lights or anything.”

  “Hurry,” Ned said. He was watching the hallway.

  Sam handed CERBO to Andy. “You gotta learn how to do it.” He grinned at the expression on Andy’s face, one of sheer terror and delight. He understood. “Talk it through, but don’t waste time. I’ll stop you if something’s wrong.”

  Andy stood and took the machine. “Bomb’s attached to the bed, so I’ll have to send the entire bed out.” Sam just nodded, but Andy didn’t look up to see his reaction. He fiddled with the coords, then nodded. “Field is locked on the bed.” He tapped a few more times. “Omega is the same as you used for the previous bomb.” He hesitated, then grinned at Sam and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m sure we’re okay, but let’s step back a bit, eh?”

  Sam laughed, but followed Andy to the bedroom door.

  “Hurry up,” Ned growled.

  The bed disappeared.

  “Wooh!” Andy jabbed a fist to the sky.

  “Okay.” Ned pulled them into the hallway. “Let’s go. I want us back at Hydro.”

  They joined the others in the living room. Through the open door, they could hear running steps. “Everyone get close, “ Ned said. “Go.”

  Sam grabbed the machine and punched keys in rapid clicks. Before they could get a glimpse of whoever was approaching, the flat disappeared, and hydroponics took its place.

  Chapter 34

  “Goddamn ...” The word was cold and hard, coming from Feldman as an unbelievable four bridges appeared and disappeared in less than ten minutes. “What just happened there? Where did they go?”

  Mike was tapping furiously, alternating with glares at the display. “I don’t know, sir. Three of those bridges were too small to measure at this scale. Those all had people in them. The long one went to the same spot in space that the last one did. Another object.”

  “Are they porting around the station?” Feldman asked.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Find out where they’re going.”

  Mike leaned closer to the display, as if it might help him see better. Dinnie broke in. “We don’t have access to NISS maps,” she told Feldman. “We need them hooked up to the detector, and the scale adjusted.”

  “Get it,” he said. “Get it now.” His face was scarlet. Dinnie thought she saw his temple throbbing, and had a faint hope that he might drop dead from stress and save all their lives. But no. He turned from her on stiff legs and ran to her office, slamming the door. In a few seconds they heard his voice raised to a near-bellow.

  Dinnie’s office was not soundproof. She wondered if Feldman thought it was, or was just too angry to care. Her people stood around the room, eyes on whatever was in front of them, trying to act as if they were working. But they were listening. There was nothing else they could do. She listened with one ear while she placed a call to Technical Support, ordering the upgrade.

  “I told you to confiscate their equipment,” Feldman shouted. “You haven’t done that, and those people are flying around your fucking station like they own it. Where are your people? You’ve got ten fucking intruders on your station, and you’re not doing a goddamn thing about it.”

  He paused, presumably for Rhyder’s excuses. When he spoke again, his voice was louder than before. “They are transporting objects off the station. Do you have any ideas about what those object are? I know you do. Are you trying to pretend you don’t know? Your fucked-up people can’t even hide bombs properly ...”

  Dinnie closed her eyes, frozen in place, numb with horror.

  “ ... and all the rebels have to do is look for them, and they can get rid of them.”

  Rhyder’s desperate voice could be heard for a moment, though they couldn’t make out the words.

  Feldman overrode him. “Of course you didn’t know people could transport themselves around your station. You didn’t have to know. I told you to confiscate their equipment. I made that very clear. It was the first thing you were supposed to fucking do.”

  “You get that equipment, Rhyder. I don’t care who you have to kill to get it. I don’t care if you have to blow up the goddamn station. You get that equipment.”

  Dinnie jerked nervously, but Feldman did not come out of her office. Shortly, they heard his voice again, at a normal level this time. Dinnie sniffed, and realized there were tears on her cheeks. She wiped them away and turned to face her people.

  No one was looking at her, or at anybody else. They continued to stare at the work before them, lost in their private dread. They’d seen it happen before when innocent employees learned too much. Entire departments wiped out, a few people at a time. Vehicle accidents. House fires. Burglaries gone violent. The press never connected the dots, never pursued it at all.

  Now it was them.

  Behind Dinnie, Mike spoke. She turned, but he was still watching the display. “I have a sister on NISS.”

  She stared at him, watching as his shaking hand touched his keyboard. She wanted to shout at him, or jump on him, something that would stop him. But she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. His fingers danced a pattern and the display flickered. He continued to tap, feeding garbage data into the system, setting priorities.

  The security guard raised his weapon. “Step away from the keyboard, Mr. Ontrera.”

  Mike ignored him, except to tap faster.

  The guard fired, a long, sustained burst. Mike fell, his body jerking from the shocks. Around the room, the tension exploded as if a pin had pricked a balloon. People screamed or sobbed, backing into each other or against the walls or furniture.

  Dinnie dropped next to Mike, ignoring the residual shocks as she lifted him in her arms. “Mike. Talk to me. Mike ... Mike.”

  His body had stopped jerking, and now his eyes opened. He smiled at her, the smile and eyes ghastly in his white face. “Oops,” he said. She had to listen very carefully to understand him.

  “They’ll just restore it from backups,” Dinnie said. “It won’t stop them.”

  “Slow ‘em down a wee bit.”

  “Yeah.”

  His eyes closed, but the smile remained. “Not just a data flunkie.” He breathed out.

  “No,” Dinnie said, holding him close. “No. No.”

  ~~~

  Moira was asleep. Sarah scrunched against the wall with her backpack on her lap and regarded her partner. Her eyes had long ago adjusted to the darkness, and she could see Moira’s shadowed form, her head tilted to rest on the wall. Sarah couldn’t see her face, but her breath was slow and even.

&n
bsp; It was good that she slept, Sarah thought. It had not yet been a full day since her surgery. In fact, despite all that had happened, it was only four hours ago that Moira had been released from the infirmary.

  They weren’t taking very good care of her.

  Sarah raised her head, as she did periodically, to listen for footsteps or voices. There had been guards out there a few minutes after Karen left, but she’d heard them running off. Since then, there was nothing.

  Real success meant that Karen came out of it all right. Sarah checked the time, keeping her Pad on its dimmest setting. Twenty minutes. It felt longer. That meant the bomb was down to two hours and fifty-two minutes. That felt awfully short.

  When the sound came, it was so soft, Sarah almost missed it. She just knew her body went still with the instinct of the hunted, and her ears were straining for a repeat of ... what? She held her breath, then realized her hand had moved to Moira’s arm, and that Moira also lay still, not breathing.

  Listening.

  The door opened, light from the corridor blinding them. Sarah felt Moira’s muscle flinch under her hand, but the girl remained still.

  The door closed. “Okay,” Karen said. “Let’s go.”

  With a whoosh of breath, Sarah sat up and moved the box in front of her. Karen grinned up at her. “Sunnies are busy elsewhere for a few minutes, and I found us a safer place. Bigger, anyway.”

  “There’s a bomb in here,” Sarah said, and watched the grin disappear from Karen’s face. That was too bad. It had been nice to see it.

  “Where?”

  Sarah pointed and Moira leaned forward so she could see Karen. “It’s down to two hours and forty-eight minutes.”

  “It’s live?” Karen slapped her hands together once, then reached up. “Hand me your stuff. Get down from there.”

  As soon as they were safe on the floor, Karen scrambled onto the shelf, craning her neck to peer into the bomb’s corner.