“What—” His head hit the table as his body went limp.
She stood and gestured to the nearest server. “Pardon me. I’m afraid my companion requires medical care.” The young man’s eyes widened and he scurried off for assistance.
Olivia strode out of the restaurant and headed for the exit. Romane would have to wait for a day or two. She had important reorganization details to see to first.
58
EARTH
EASC HEADQUARTERS
* * *
ALEX FOUND HER MOTHER IN the War Room. Given there no longer was a war, the room was halfway to dismantled. Storage boxes stacked high spanned the far wall and gaps where equipment had once resided decorated the other three.
Miriam stood midway down the long table. Her palms rested on the rim as she pressed in to examine two rows of charts and datasets.
Alex leaned against the door frame, crossed her arms loosely and considered the scene. The uniform was as crisp as ever, buttons lined up and polished to a sheen and seams razor-straight. The additional bar on each shoulder blended in as if they had always been there. The hair was drawn back per usual, if not so severely as in the past for it wound into a braid before tucking under at the nape of the neck.
Yet the woman beneath the uniform had changed.
Or perhaps it was Alex who had changed…or perhaps they had both simply discovered a new perspective on the world, and each other. Most likely the truth lay somewhere in between.
She is beautiful.
The sensory rush which accompanied the insight felt strange. Uncomfortable.
I suppose she is, Dad. Keep your more prurient sentiments to yourself though, okay? She’s my mother. I’m going to toggle the connection off now. The odds of her forgiving me might improve if I don’t so much resemble a cyborg.
Of course. This time is for the two of you.
Most of the time it was still Valkyrie in her head, sharing thoughts and data and philosophy. This…fragment, this echo of her father inside Valkyrie flitted in and out of both their consciousnesses like a feather tossed about in the wind. The intensity of the Seneca battle had brought it into being and to the forefront. Once the crisis passed it had largely faded into the shadows—not gone, but a glint in the corner of her eye, barely out of reach.
It probably shouldn’t be surprising the sight of Miriam had coaxed it back into the light.
She cleared her throat and greeted her mother’s expression of disquiet with a little half-smile.
“I am going to kill you.” The tenor with which the statement was delivered suggested it may not be entirely in jest.
“I couldn’t tell you, Mom.”
“But you could tell Richard?”
“I needed Richard, so I didn’t have a choice. Speaking of, where is he? He wasn’t in his office.”
“Gone for the day—something about a promise to keep. Don’t change the subject.”
She shouldn’t have expected this to be easy. “I wanted to bring you in on our objectives, but the stakes were too high.”
“You think I don’t understand high stakes? Have you been paying attention to…my life?”
Alex dropped her chin and shook her head. “Of course I have, and I know you do. I just mean….” She pushed off the door frame to roam around the partially dismantled room. “Okay, listen. We knew the identities of the alien agents but nothing else. Hervé was definitely a high-level contact for them. Her arrest would’ve tipped the aliens off, and they would’ve ordered their agents into hiding or adjusted or accelerated their plans. Our one chance to stop them was to move swiftly and in utmost secrecy.”
Miriam’s glare only deepened. “And?”
“If you learned Hervé was a traitor you would’ve almost certainly arrested her on the spot, and in no universe would you have permitted her in the War Room.”
“Given the circumstances, I might have seen the necessity of delaying any arrest.”
Alex remained silent…but she might have been smirking.
“Fine. I would’ve arrested her. But you do not appreciate the position you put me in.”
“I submit I do. I also knew you would be able to handle it and make the right decisions.”
“And what if I hadn’t been allowed to make the right decisions?”
Still, this could be a little easier…. “I realize it didn’t appear so from where you stood, but I was safe. The Kill Switch was disabled and, well, we had control of the situation.”
“I’m not sure I care for the sound of that last bit.”
“I’m sure you don’t.” She cringed hopefully. “Forgiven?”
Miriam pursed her lips and shrugged. “I suppose we can call it even.”
“Fair enough.” Alex took advantage of the momentary thaw to prop against the table beside her mother. “So is the world returning to normal? Procedures implemented and checklists followed and bureaucrats imposing order from above?”
Miriam exhaled and relaxed her bearing as well. “I’m not convinced the world will ever be ‘normal’ again. Dozens of colonies are decimated or heavily damaged. The government is already in debt far beyond its capacity to ever repay and repairs haven’t yet begun. We’re at peace with the Federation, but no one knows what that’s going to look like when we’re not fighting a war for our survival. What is warfare going to look like when adiamene renders ships all but indestructible?
“And there’s the small matter of you and Valkyrie, the other Prevos and everything else which comes with Project Noetica. You’ve opened Pandora’s Box, and there is no closing it.”
“The powers that be will try. Don’t even pretend they won’t try.”
Miriam regarded her with an air of caution. “Part of me wishes they could succeed. I’m afraid for you. But you seem all right. You seem like yourself…if a bit softer than before.”
She bit back a chuckle. “Maybe, but I don’t think Valkyrie’s to blame for it.”
“Caleb, then?”
Alex opened her mouth to tell her mother the full extent of the things Mesme had shown her, of how it had altered her perception of not merely her own life but the lives of those around her. But she closed it again. If she had learned anything these last months, it was that the past belonged in the past. Better to move forward.
She rolled her eyes playfully. “No comment.”
“What he did on Krysk was quite impressive. We spent days fretting over sending squadrons to subdue O’Connell, and Caleb took out the entire force using a single tiny ship.”
“He is pretty damn incredible.” She gazed at her mother in mild amusement. “Is this your way of saying you approve of him?”
“Are you asking for my approval?”
That earned the chuckle. “Nope.”
“I didn’t believe so. Yet I shall give it anyway.”
“And I shall accept it anyway.” With a sigh she lost the lighthearted demeanor. “We’re going to see Mia this evening and talk to Abigail about her options.”
“It is regrettable what happened. I hope Dr. Canivon can help her.”
“Thank you for bringing her here—but did you really have to declare her brain an Alliance state secret?”
“If I wanted to get her to Earth and under Dr. Canivon’s care as you asked, yes.”
“If you say so.” Alex checked the time. “I need to meet Caleb in a few minutes, but…lunch next week? I mean if you’re not too busy….”
“As long as no alien invasions or civil wars are launched between now and next week, lunch sounds wonderful.”
SEATTLE
Graham considered the view out the window of the transport once they cleared the atmosphere corridor. Azure waters raced by beneath them, and too soon the horizon began to glimmer as the lights of a cityscape at dusk drew close.
The transport landed at the Olympic Regional Spaceport in Seattle. He knew of Seattle because of its proximity to and association with Vancouver, and Vancouver’s importance to the Alliance military. Otherwise h
e would be rather clueless as to where exactly he found himself. Oh, he could name another half a dozen Earth cities, but there were so many. So many cities, so many people.
He let the crowd carry him out of the spaceport and onto the street. Once there, however, he stopped and leaned against the façade behind him.
So this was Earth. The motherland. One tiny corner of it, anyway.
He drew the chilly, damp air into his lungs and smiled in satisfaction. Then he pushed off the wall and let his eVi guide him to the address he’d been given.
A mountain of work awaited him on Seneca. His office, all of Division, arguably society itself needed to be patched up and put back together again. But the last several days, weeks and months had been one long, brutal kick in the ass, and he was going to take a damn break and relax first.
The meeting place was a casual open-air pub on the Puget Sound waterfront. The large deck was spatially heated and he was accustomed to a cool climate, but he was glad he’d brought a jacket nonetheless.
Richard stood and extended a hand when he reached the table. He shook it warmly then shifted to his right as Will did the same.
“Good to see you again, sir. It’s been all of, what, three days? Four? Feels like longer, though.”
Graham made a face as they sat. “I don’t think ‘sir’ is going to have any place in the evening’s festivities, so you can cut that drivel straightaway. In fact, do you even work for me anymore? I’m not sure the topic ever came up.”
Richard and Will exchanged an interesting and indecipherable look. Will chuckled softly. “Well….”
He motioned across the table. “Doesn’t matter. I presume Richard filled you in on the goal for tonight?”
“Something about ‘epic’ and ‘truly’ and ‘drinks.’ I figured I’d just follow his lead.”
“That more or less covers everything. And since I’m the guest, I’ll buy the first round.”
Richard scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re the one who traveled all this way. I’ll buy the first round. You can buy the rest.”
“Ha!” Graham gave a hearty laugh and relaxed back in his chair as a drop-dead gorgeous waitress flashing long legs and nearly as long chestnut-and-gold tresses arrived with a platter of drinks. Yep, the evening was going to be enjoyable indeed. “And the first round is already here. What an excellent beginning.”
He reached for a glass but stopped halfway, grimacing. “Shit, I came straight here and haven’t booked a hotel yet. Any recommendations on where to crash once the epicness is done?”
Richard shook his head as he distributed the drinks. “We do have a spare bedroom. In the event we’re able to successfully get ourselves home, you’re welcome to it. Besides, tomorrow—or possibly the next day, depending—I’ve got some ideas I want to talk over with you, so we might as well be in the same place.”
“Ideas?”
“On how we can better ensure we—the politicians, the military, the public, even you and I—don’t fall prey to something like Aguirre’s conspiracy so easily in the future. But they’ll keep.” He raised his glass. “To saving the galaxy?”
Graham’s glass joined Richard and Will’s above the table for an emphatic clink. “To saving the galaxy.”
59
EARTH
EASC HEADQUARTERS
* * *
THE BED SEEMED TO SWALLOW MIA, cocooning her in warming blankets, tubes and monitors. Her raven hair was gone, shaved to make way for more monitors.
How, Caleb wondered, could such a tiny body have contained so much spirit, so much verve and all the mettle beneath it? “I feel as though this is my fault.”
Alex had given him space to absorb the grim scene in private, but now she was at his side and her hand was on his arm. “Because you offered her the chance to participate? No. Caleb, she understood the risks, and she wanted to do this.”
“How can you know that?”
She retreated slightly. Talking about the details of her link with Valkyrie was proving difficult for her. She claimed it was simply hard to put into words, but he suspected she worried those details would frighten others away. Would frighten him away. He’d call her on it soon enough—but not here.
“When our channel was fully open the connection between the Prevos was very deep. I hesitate to say I was inside her mind, but in some ways that’s what it felt like. Trust me when I tell you she was proud to be playing such an important role.” Her gaze dropped away from him to rest on the terribly still form in the bed. “If anything, it’s my fault. If we’d gone public with the threat from the alien agents, if we’d done everything possible to stop them immediately without regard to secrecy or timing, we might have prevented this from happening.”
Her voice hinted at genuine distress. He grasped her shoulders and urged her around to face him. “But if what you say about the connection is true, she made the decision on how to proceed along with you, right?”
Alex shrugged weakly. “Yes.”
“So how about we blame the aliens, okay?”
There was the smile he craved. “Sounds reasonable.”
The door slid open to allow Dr. Canivon’s entrance. She gave them a curt nod and began inspecting the readings from the myriad of monitors in her coldly dispassionate manner.
Caleb respected that the woman had enabled Alex’s vision to come to fruition, but he did not care for her personally. She looked at Alex, she looked at Mia—hell, she looked at everyone—as if they were specimens being evaluated for use in her experiments. In his opinion Miriam had been correct in her assessment of the doctor. He’d known people like her over the years and wasn’t keen on the way they made decisions.
Still, if anyone alive could help Mia be…alive, it was her. “We’ve been given the highlights, but I’d like to hear the bottom line from you, Doctor.”
Canivon glanced up at them in surprise, as if she’d forgotten she was the one who had intruded. “The brain damage is extensive. Some basic faculties may be restorable, but many areas appear to be permanently lost. Yet great strides have been made in the last several years in cerebral regeneration therapy, so perhaps I’m being pessimistic.”
She appraised the readings a second time. “But there may be another way to help her.”
Caleb perked up a little at the tease. “Don’t play cryptic. I’m sure it’s experimental and risky or you wouldn’t be proposing it.”
If the woman noticed the backhanded insult, she didn’t show it. “I’ve been informed the Alliance recovered most of Meno’s hardware and a number of modules sustained only minimal damage. In addition, we imaged the Artificial’s neural net as part of Noetica. If Meno were to be rebuilt—and the result was substantially identical to what existed before his destruction—he might be able to access her brain functions despite her comatose state.”
“What would be the result?”
“He could tell us with a high level of specificity the nature of the damage in different regions. And…well, I have no justification for this belief save my technical observations of the human/Artificial interactions in the Prevos, but it’s possible Meno could take over portions of the lost functionality. He could fill in the gaps himself, particularly since her neural imprint modified his programming.”
Alex frowned. “If it worked, it would mean the link was no longer optional. She wouldn’t be able to turn it on and off.”
“Likely true.”
Caleb’s voice came out shakier than he intended. “And it would mean she would be less…herself. Less human and more synthetic.”
“Also likely true, though what that means in practice will be unclear for some time.” Abigail regarded Caleb with her customary clinical precision. “She has no family of record. There is no one to make decisions on her behalf. But it’s my understanding…” her eyes darted briefly to Alex “…you’ve known her for many years. I can pursue this path, but I’m interested to know: is this something she would want?”
This response was stronger
, more resolute. “Yes. Without a doubt. She’s a fighter, and she wasn’t afraid of the technology involved.”
“Very well. It will be a lengthy process—reconstructing Meno alone will take several months—and I don’t anticipate seeing any results for a while. But if or when we do, I’ll of course notify you both.”
Alex sighed quietly. “Thank you, Abigail. We appreciate you seeing this through.” She looked to him for guidance; he tilted his head toward the door.
Once they stepped into the hallway she grasped his hands and scrutinized him in concern. “Are you all right?”
Was he? He did her question justice by pausing to think about it. Mia would want to live—but if unable to do so, she’d be happy knowing she had done a damn good job of helping to save the galaxy, and had done so on her own terms.
And the galaxy was saved. And Alex had pulled it off while still remaining fundamentally Alex. And no one was trying to kill them.
The future was theirs to write.
He nodded, making sure it projected the truth of his conviction. “Yes, I am. I really am. Where to now?”
Her eyes lit up. “Home.”
SEATTLE, ALEX’S LOFT
The plates were put away, the table clean after a damn near perfect dinner of lime-grilled pompano, cippoline onions and smoked tomato salsa. Watching Caleb cook in her kitchen had been a delight, the results arguably even more so. When given culinary tools not available on a ship he’d worked true magic.
Alex carried their wine glasses to the low table in front of the couch and settled down against the cushions. It was a clear night and a nearly-full moon lit the sky and the loft, so she dimmed the lights to a soft glow.
Valkyrie was on her own for the evening. She was likely spending it colluding with the others on facilitating the gargantuan rebuilding efforts, exploring the many zettabytes of data captured on the alien superdreadnought, or analyzing the nature of time and space, and possibly all three. All worthwhile endeavors. Until those who fancied themselves in charge decided what they wanted to do with these new creations, the Artificials were at least making good use of their talents. But Alex found she vastly preferred this, right here.
Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection Page 129