* * *
• • •
There were worse things than running, Nika decided. Waiting to run was one of them.
“You ever had to bring a patient out of a machine early?” she asked Snow.
“No. I hope you’re not thinking about it.”
“Of course not.” A good modder wouldn’t. But it might be prudent to work out what they could do, and when, if they had to. Nika didn’t want to stand around waiting. She’d rather have something to do, even if it was contemplating nightmare what-if scenarios.
“If we had to take her out early, what can we do?”
“Why are you asking the question if you’re not planning on doing it?”
Snow and Doctor Jack were both looking at her, and frowning.
“Because I’m twitchy, and I need something to occupy me.”
And because it might be a matter of life or death for Josune. For all of them.
She knew what she’d sacrifice. It wouldn’t be the eye. She wanted that whole and working, and she’d bet Josune would, too. Right now, the way she had set up the machine, the eye would be the last thing finished.
She checked through her program to see what she could change. The hair was done. The dermis was mending nicely, although the machine hadn’t started on the epidermis. The eye—halfway through. If she switched the processes around, so that the machine concentrated on the eye first, the lower layers of the skin next, and the epidermis last, she’d add half an hour to the final build. An unfinished epidermis was not life-threatening, it only looked bad. Josune would shed dead skin for a week. Was it better to simply let the process go through as fast as it could?
Snow put a hand over the screen. “Nika. You don’t change a program halfway through.”
“I know.” Although she had, when she found something wasn’t working. “But, Snow, let’s pretend for a moment that we have to. What would you do?”
“But you—”
“A theoretical exercise. We have enemy coming. They’ll be here before she’s out of the machine.”
“They won’t be. You heard the doctor. No one will know. Not until we’re gone.”
“Theoretically.”
Snow chewed at his bottom lip. “The skin enhancements,” he said, finally. “To cover the pink. That could go.”
“Good.” Some modders Nika knew would be more horrified at leaving the pink, but you couldn’t prevent it with a Dietel; all you could do was enhance it, make it look like it was supposed to be there.
“Her eye. We’ll never be able to fix that in time. She’ll have to wear a patch until we get her to another machine.”
Not if Nika could prevent it. “The eye is important to Josune.”
“But her skin.”
“You ever heard of sunburn, Snow?”
“Of course I have. Planet-bound people get it. It’s common on worlds where the sun emits high ultraviolet radiation and newly landed visitors forget to cover up.”
They didn’t go to a modder to get it fixed, they went to a doctor. But Nika had one client who participated in extreme outdoor sports. His skin burned regularly. He had a standing appointment with her when he came back after a session.
“Not that common on a space station,” Doctor Jack said, unhelpfully.
The hospital door opened. Nika’s hands clenched over a weapon she didn’t have. She should have borrowed one from Roystan. She glanced over her shoulder and relaxed. The man who’d entered was breathing heavily and perspiring slightly. He’d had work done. His look was a poor copy of a CEO Nika had modded twelve months ago.
Snow took an awed breath. “That’s a Nika Rik Terri design.”
“A copy,” Nika corrected. It wasn’t even a good copy, for the skin around the hairline was mottled and silvering. Not a bad effect itself, but certainly not part of the design. The nails were silvering, too.
“Has Roystan brought anyone in to be treated?” the newcomer demanded.
“Roystan?” Doctor Jack ran his fingers through his hair. “Aubrey, you know he’s not due back for a ten-day.”
Nika moved quietly over to the controls of the Dietel.
They had to get Josune out of the machine as fast as they could.
And warn Roystan.
Her fingers flew, rescheduling the build, reassigning the priorities.
She was glad Snow watched Aubrey, not her. He would have tried to stop her from making the changes.
“He’s here,” Aubrey said. “He’s in my jail right now. He had an injured crewwoman with him. One of the crew will be bringing her here.”
He spotted Nika and Snow then. Did a double take as he recognized Snow. “That’s him. You’re under arrest.” He put a hand to his chin to tap his link on.
“Calm down, Aubrey,” Doctor Jack said.
Nika pulled everything but the essentials out of the design. The eye, completion of the dermis layer of the skin, and the basal layer of the epidermis. The burns would heal themselves from there. They’d be mildly painful for a day or three, and the dead skin would flake and look terrible, but it wouldn’t kill Josune.
She pushed affirmation of the changes through and watched as the machine concentrated mutrient and other trace elements around the eye. Thank goodness for that tiny piece of dellarine, to speed up the process.
“That man is a wanted criminal.”
Snow hunched in on himself again. Nika sighed, and said more to distract Snow than anything else, “What happened to your game of sho?”
“So you know about that, do you?”
“Everybody knows,” Doctor Jack said.
“Well I tell you, Lady Criminal. If you were counting on that, it’s your bad luck that Executive Mattins banned sho.”
“Knowing Calli she probably threatened to sack you for slacking off during business hours,” Doctor Jack said.
Aubrey swung around so fast Nika thought it might have been true.
“Doctor, why haven’t you reported these two to me?”
“What?”
“Don’t you read your messages?”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
Nika glanced down. Josune’s mod was going nicely. Pulling her out early would be tricky, but provided the first part of the mod was completed—and if they needed to—they could pull her out without finishing the last part of the build.
She increased the timer by half an hour. The new finish time was displayed on the screen, counting down. If anyone looked at the time, they’d think they couldn’t move Josune before that. In reality, Nika could pull Josune out any time in the hour beforehand.
It would give them an hour. They might need it.
The doctor took his time scrolling through the messages. He eventually found and replayed the one from the Justice Department. “It says watch out for Roystan, and a woman with burns. This woman”—he gestured toward Josune—“had her eye gouged out.”
Gouged was a little strong, but Nika appreciated what he was doing.
“Oh.” Aubrey looked toward the Dietel. “Maybe I’m—” His gaze moved on to Snow. “You wouldn’t recognize a criminal if he robbed you. Look at that man. Look at his face.”
The doctor looked at the image on-screen, at Snow. He shrugged. “You didn’t really arrest Roystan, did you?”
“Of course I did. And I let the Justice Department know.” He looked at Nika. “Don’t think you’ll get away with this. I’m not stupid.”
“So you keep telling us.” Could they keep him talking long enough to get Snow away? She looked around for a weapon.
Snow moved to stand in front of the supply cupboard.
Right now, Nika would have liked a handy container of naolic acid to threaten Aubrey with. Not that Aubrey would have recognized it as a threat.
“Roystan’s part of the station,” Doctor
Jack said. “He’s been coming here forty years. Longer than you’ve been alive, Aubrey.”
There was nothing loose that Nika could use to hit Aubrey with.
“It’s irrelevant. When the Justice Department calls, I answer.”
“He does a lot for us. He lends us his engineer when he’s here. He brings supplies. This won’t be popular.”
“I’m not here to be popular, I’m here to do my job.”
“It’s a pity you chose tonight as the night to do it.”
Nika moved Snow away from the supply cupboard.
“Nika, you can’t—”
Much as she’d love to, she wouldn’t. It wouldn’t help Roystan’s chances, or their own. But she did want to be armed. She rummaged through the cupboard.
“These two,” Aubrey said. “They’re under arrest.”
“What have I done?” Nika waved a hand at the screen. “I’m not on the wanted list.”
“Aiding and abetting a criminal.”
“That’s not for you to decide. I’m not going anywhere. I paid for time with this machine. If I don’t get the time I paid for, I’ll sue.”
Nika’s clients were mostly high-end, powerful executives and entertainers who used the threat of legal action as one of the base tools of trade. Anyone who did that to her didn’t get return appointments.
Aubrey laughed, but she heard the faint doubt.
“You think I’m joking. Why don’t you call your boss and ask her? Will she be happy about breaking a contract?” Every minute they stayed out of jail was an extra minute for Josune to recover.
If she could work it so she stayed with Josune, Snow could help break Roystan out of his cell. Nika turned back to the supply cupboard for the small glass container of sulfuric acid Jack had placed there. They were on a station. And no matter how dangerous a criminal was, space doors had to open. There was always a manual override for when the lock was damaged. And sulfuric acid would certainly damage a lock, if you put it into the right place.
“I have every right to arrest him,” Aubrey said. “You can stay here. Under guard.”
“I’ll be here until she’s out of the machine.” Nika handed Snow the tiny bottle. “Don’t forget your fixative. You know you’re due to take it in an hour.” Aubrey, eyes on the bottle, didn’t see the horror on Snow’s face. The machine countdown was two hours and five minutes.
“What is it?” Aubrey demanded, taking the bottle.
She gambled he didn’t know his acids well. “Something he needs to take every day. Otherwise his skin goes patchy.”
“Patchy.” Aubrey rubbed discreetly at his own hairline, and she worried for a moment he might keep the bottle.
“Brown blotches. A skin mold. Kills the mold.”
He handed Snow the bottle as if it would bite him.
“Remember,” Nika told Snow. “Put it on the joints. Opening and closing orifices.”
Was the hint too obscure for Snow to understand? At least he recognized what was in the bottle. Doctor Jack turned away, covering his mouth with a hand.
“Get someone else to put it on for you, if you prefer.”
Aubrey stepped away from them. “That’s disgusting.”
“An hour,” Nika said.
Snow looked at the bottle in his hand. “An hour.”
The security team arrived. Four guards. One of the guards had a cut on his lip, another a mark high on his cheekbone that was going to turn into a bruise. And probably a black eye.
“The whole damn team,” Doctor Jack said. “What’d you wake them all up for, Aubrey?”
“These people are dangerous. They destroyed half a station.”
Half a station? That was an exaggeration.
“As dangerous as Roystan,” the doctor said. “Did it take all four of you to arrest him, too?”
“Don’t be stupid, Jack,” the lead security said. “Roystan came quiet as a lamb. I was embarrassed arresting him. I’m going to have to apologize when we let him go.”
They wouldn’t let him go. These people might think it all a misunderstanding, but Nika knew better. Snow looked at Nika.
“We’ll get you out. Don’t forget that, will you?” She pointed to the acid. “An hour from now.”
He slipped the bottle into his pocket and allowed two of the guards to lead him away.
Aubrey looked at the remaining two security people. “Lexie, Kane. Bring the woman when she comes out of the machine.” He turned to the door. “I’ve got forms to fill in.”
* * *
• • •
Nika had hoped they’d leave her there on her own. Now she had to work out how to disable these two—and the doctor—long enough to help Josune escape.
One hour and fifteen minutes before Josune was due to come out of the genemod machine—according to the timer—Doctor Jack lumbered to his feet. “I’m for a coffee. Anyone else want one?”
Nika watched the telltales on the machine.
How much had Doctor Jack noticed? The timing couldn’t be coincidental. Fifteen minutes before Josune could come out of the tank. Fifteen minutes before she had to do something about the two guards.
What could she do? There was nothing in the supply cupboard she could use. Not without harming them, and despite what Snow imagined, she didn’t plan on harming onlookers.
Unless she absolutely had to.
One unarmed woman. Against two armed guards. She went through the cupboard again. Found the spray bottle Doctor Jack used to wipe out the machine with. Tipped most of the antiseptic out and filled the rest of the bottle with water. Straight antiseptic would damage the eye, but watered down, it would merely sting, and maybe give her enough time to get out the door with Josune.
She put the spray bottle on the bench above the machine.
Ten minutes.
A message chimed. The female guard, Lexie, pushed it onto a wall screen. It was the station manager, Calli Mattins.
“What the hell is going on?”
“Justice Department identified some wanteds,” Lexie said.
“Did you seriously arrest Roystan?”
“He’s comfortable.”
“Why didn’t you just keep an eye on him?”
“The orders were to restrain him.”
“What about his crew?”
“They’re with him. Resisting arrest. Jacques was demented. Clocked Kane a beauty. He’s taking time in the tank when he goes off duty.”
Mattins scowled.
“We’ve arrested the redhead as well.”
“The injured woman?”
“She’s coming out in one hour and seven minutes.”
Seven minutes, provided they didn’t stop Nika, and if the time was going as slowly as it had for the last eight minutes, the next seven would be the longest seven minutes of Nika’s life.
“Aubrey’s called the Justice Department,” the other guard—Kane—said. “They’ll be here in an hour.”
Some news at last. They had less than an hour to escape.
“An hour,” Mattins said. “So who’s demanding landing slots? Immediately. To take the dangerous criminals off our hands.”
It wouldn’t be the Justice Department, who came when they said they would.
It had to be the company after Roystan. Eaglehawk? The Justice Department was, once again, aiding a company.
“You leave me no time to do anything except hand over an old friend to the law. I wish Aubrey had spoken to me first.” Mattins clicked off with a savage thrust of her hand.
Five minutes.
“Suits,” Kane muttered. “She thinks she’s above work rules because she’s station manager. She’s going up against the Justice Department. What about us? What happens to our jobs?”
Nika didn’t feel so bad about what she planned to do.
&nbs
p; “Nothing,” Lexie said. “Except that we get Aubrey as boss instead of Calli.”
“He’s not likely to lose his job for insubordination,” Kane said.
His companion scowled. “If Aubrey weren’t such a sanctimonious prig this could have been sorted. We could have warned Roystan quietly and let him move on.”
Maybe Nika wouldn’t be so hard on the female guard, although she’d be tougher to subdue.
“What’s with you all?” Kane demanded. “Why would you warn him?”
“Roystan’s a good man. I’ve known him since I was a kid.”
“You station-bred people need to get out more, learn what it’s really like to work for a company. It’s not all like this, you know.”
“I know,” Lexie said.
Two minutes.
Lexie looked to be around ten years older than Roystan, yet she said she’d known him as a kid. Either Roystan’s modder Tilda was a genius, or the years didn’t add up. Nika had never heard of Tilda, and if she was that good, why did she have a studio down on the docks?
“You said you knew Roystan when you were young,” she said to Lexie, before the waiting got too much for her and she did something stupid, like pull Josune out early.
“We all did. We’d wait for his ship, just to get a glimpse of him. To us, he’s a hero. The new people here don’t understand.” She slid her eyes in the direction of Kane without moving her head. “You saw our station as you came in?”
Nika nodded.
“You can see where we’ve lost spurs. Roystan was here when the first spur broke loose. It didn’t shear off at the join as it was supposed to. Part of the station tore away as it went. Lots of people died. We were losing air faster than we could shut down breach doors. Roystan was incredible. None of us would be here without him.” She shrugged. “You had to be there. You had to see it.”
Roystan hadn’t told Nika about that when he’d told her about the spurs. Maybe it was a good thing. She’d never have believed she’d feel safer in Roystan’s old ship than she would on a station. But she did right now.
It was time.
Nika gently touched the override and set the closedown. All she could do was wait.
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