by Z Gottlieb
Shinny glanced at Brad. He definitely did not look good, and as annoying as the officer’s comment was, Shinny ignored it thinking they were better off if she did not engage her. “Yes, I have been trained to fly vehicles in limited cases,” Shinny volunteered, hoping her omission would not be detected.
“Good, we have uses for trained pilots,” Nerunder admitted, clearly not interested in knowing what the limitations meant. The security officer turned slightly and began flashing a message to her crew.
Shinny watched in alarm as the woman’s eyes flashed with a number of crewmembers, appearing to participate in a discussion. CIG’s policy limited chip-to-chip communications to family members, encrypted data upgrades and one-way broadcasts because chip communication was highly susceptible to viruses and hacking. It looked as if the Aneplé didn’t care who had access to their thoughts or autonomic body functions. She wondered if the failure of past rescues was the result of Aneplé control over the individual chip functions. Sadly, she realized her past encounters with Aneplé opposition might have been a result of the lack of control the combatants had over their own actions, preventing them from surrendering. It often turned out the only way to end a hand-to-hand fight was to terminate the opponent.
Nerunder turned to Shinny. “Did you bring a weapon?”
“I have a praser. I left it in the vehicle.”
“Go get it.”
Brad was leaning heavily on her. She did not think she could leave him standing alone since he started gagging with dry heaves. “Brad, I need to put you down for a few seconds,” she whispered. Brad nodded. She gently laid him on the platform. She did not feel comfortable turning away with her back facing the Aneplé, but she didn’t have a choice. Jogging back to the vehicle, she bent down into the Swarm Defender to grab her praser, their blanket and a few other personal items. When she stood up and turned around, she saw a crewman bent over Brad with his index finger connected to Brad’s port.
Shinny ran back as the crewman finished his transfer of information into Brad’s port and pulled his finger away from Brad. Shinny gave the crewman her praser. She lifted Brad to stand and moved away from the crewman. The crewman stood and stepped toward Shinny. He raised his hand and pointed his finger to connect to her port with his right index finger. While still holding Brad on her right side, she intercepted the crewman’s arm and grabbed his wrist, holding his hand back from connecting to her port; she pulled his arm down and pushed him away from them.
The crewman, stunned by the rebuff, raised Shinny’s praser, aimed at her midsection, and pulled the trigger. When nothing happened, he pulled it again. Glaring at Shinny, he lowered the praser and sneered, “You may not be ready for data transfer now. I recommend you accept the next attempt.” The Aneplé officer pocketed Shinny’s praser and walked back to the group.
Shinny said nothing, but was relieved she had discharged her praser. Fortunately, it looked like no one else was carrying a praser at that time. It might be awhile before anyone would shoot at them again.
Nerunder walked toward Shinny and Brad and stood in front of them. “You are released for now. We will track you and assign you to a unit. We will call you in for another interrogation. If you fail to attend future interrogations, Lieutenant Swetinny will use an Aneplé praser next time. They never fail.”
Confused by the officer’s statement, Shinny asked, “Don’t you want to retain us in a confined area?”
“Why? You brought us a vehicle and a praser.” She pointed to Brad. “He is being indoctrinated, and soon, with more dust, you will also be indoctrinated.”
Shinny looked at Brad. He was barely able to stand on his own and was still gagging. She worried about what they had downloaded into his port. She needed to find a private place to triage his chip, if it was possible. Still at a loss because she didn’t understand what being released meant to the Aneplé. “Is there a place we should go to receive a room assignment?”
“No, just stay away from restricted areas. You can share a room with anyone who is willing to share a room with you. You can even go to the platforms and live with the filthy colonists.” The officer’s eyes began flashing along with the crewmen’s behind her. “No one in my crew wants to room with you. You will need to find your own space.” She pointed to a few vehicles returning. “They might share a room with you.” The officer turned and left with her crew.
Brad, barely able to stand, watched the junkyard dog and her crew leave while Shinny looped his arm around her shoulders to support him. “I don’t think we should provoke them again,” he wheezed before he passed out.
Brad’s dead weight pulled away from her as he passed out. She bent over to pick Brad up and guide him over her shoulder to carry him fireman style. She picked up their blanket and the few items she was able to retrieve. Shinny stabilized Brad with his weight distributed evenly, and walked toward a door leading them out of the Transportation Room. Number one on her list was to find a private place that would allow her to care for Brad.
Chapter 22
Brad was running again with Shinny, trying to avoid being hit by the praser fire. It was that damn dream again, except, this time, as he looked around in the dream, he sensed something familiar. He still didn’t understand everything in the dream, but he wanted to stop and look around and see if he recognized anything. Whoever was chasing them had bad aim, but he wasn’t willing to take a chance and stop, even in a dream. At least this dream was not as bad as his last one, where he watched someone shoot Shinny point blank. That wasn’t a dream, it was a nightmare, he reminded himself. He was getting ready for her slap to his belly, when Shinny whispered inside his head.
“Brad, can you hear me?”
Brad opened his eyes and remained still as he tried to figure out where he was and what was going on. As far as he could tell he was in a stateroom lying on a bed in his underwear. His current situation seemed very different from what he remembered. He wondered if they had been rescued. He heard Shinny’s voice in his head, again, “Brad can you hear me?”
“Shinny, I can hear you. Are you all right?” Brad asked as he lifted his head to look for her.
“Brad, don’t move. Try to answer me through your thoughts,” Shinny said, from inside his head.
Brad laid his head back down on the bed. “How do I do that?”
“Just try. Focus on sending me a message.” She whispered in his thoughts. “The last time I established a private link, I was a child. I’m not sure if your difficulty in creating a link is from a virus the Aneplé downloaded onto your chip or if we need outside assistance. I was able to quickly follow up the Aneplé’s download on you with an experimental multi-strain chip vaccine issued to me as a Special Combat Officer when I reported on the Zuonopy. However, I don’t have the tools to determine how effective my efforts are or if there are any residual side effects from the Aneplé’s download onto your chip. Since there won’t be assistance we can trust on the Kisskalu, we need to continue to attempt to set up a private link on our own. Try again.”
Brad smiled. It was comforting waking up to Shinny’s voice in his head. As well as hearing her voice communication. Brad closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows, as he concentrated on sending a message. “Shinny, did you hear anything from me?” It was clear to him as well as frustrating that he wasn’t transmitting anything to her. “What am I supposed to do?”
With a silent sigh, Shinny walked over to Brad and sat next to him on the bed. “I didn’t hear anything from you, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s something that comes naturally to people who have open links. Medical opened a link for me at the same time as Nan. We can try this another time.” She gently pushed his hair back from his forehead. “How are you feeling?”
Brad was surprised to learn of their link, but considering their current situation he was grateful that someone had planned for their future connection. He realized, looking at Shinny next to him in her underwear, that quite a bit of time must have passed. “I’m feeling better,
but still weak. At least I don’t have the urge to throw up at this moment.” Glancing around the room he was confused about their status. “Where are we?”
“We are in my room, sort of,” she answered.
“I don’t understand. Are we on the Zuonopy?”
“No, unfortunately we are still on the Kisskalu, but we are in the same location as my stateroom on the Zuonopy. After you passed out, I needed to get you someplace safe with the air free of the green dust. The information I downloaded showed that while the Aneplé made modifications to Kisskalu’s external structure, they basically left the internal staterooms alone. I came here because I was familiar with the vents and blowers in my room and could clear the dust out of the room.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what to say.”
“There’s nothing for you to say. You had a violent reaction to the dust. Obviously, you couldn’t help it.”
“It’s odd, since on Earth I wasn’t allergic to anything.”
Shinny shrugged. “I’ve done another search on the pollen. It is strange that there is nothing in my database about the green dust or the plant they are so enamored with. There isn’t much we can do about the dust at this time. It’s pervasive; we will just have to find ways to work around it, like extreme cleaning and primitive isolation chambers.”
Glancing around the room he noted it was in fact clean and odorless, and there appeared to be a section by the door separated by something that looked like plastic wrap. “How long did it take you to clean this room and set up the isolation booth at the door?”
“After I evicted the former occupants, it took me about four days to completely clean the room. The isolation booth helped me by providing an area for me to change out of my contaminated clothes when I left the room.” Shinny answered. “You have been in and out of consciousness for over five days.”
Surprised by the amount of time he had lost, Brad slowly sat up and leaned against the wall to get a better view of the room, grateful for the isolation booth. “Looking around you did an outstanding job. I do not smell anything unusual and the room seems spotless.” He had no memory of the past five days, but it was obvious Shinny had worked extraordinarily hard to clean the room for him, in addition to fighting off who knew how many people trying to stake a claim on this room. “Thank you. I can’t imagine the shape I would be in without this room and your help.”
“Actually, I need to thank you. It was a crazy-assed idea to fly onto the Kisskalu, but they announced three days ago that all of the pods left behind were destroyed and all of the vehicles have been captured.” Shinny gently touched Brad’s arm. “The destruction of the pods is a new tactic and I’m not sure I understand why they would do it, other than to try to demoralize CIG’s Fleet.”
Brad lowered his eyes in response to her news. “I’m sorry, I need a moment.” He was struck by a wave of sadness from hearing all of the pods had been destroyed. For Brad, war and combat had always been an abstract idea or something in a movie. Even when he thought about applying to the Naval Academy, it was about getting a better education, not going to war and possibly getting killed. He was more determined than ever to find a way off the cruiser and protect Earth. He would find a way to mourn the loss of his crewmates later. For now, Shinny and he needed to survive, and then find a way off the Kisskalu as quickly as possible.
Shinny quietly stepped away as Brad drifted back to sleep. He was much better, but he still looked like he needed more rest. She hoped he would be strong enough to walk the next time he woke up. While the room was clean, Shinny had no illusions it was safe now or would ever be truly safe for them in the future to hunker down and stay here. She had been able to leave the room a few times but returning had been time consuming because she needed to undergo a primitive decontamination to thoroughly clean herself and the room each time. She had come up with a plan that would put them in a better position, but it would be better if Brad could walk, in case there was trouble.
Chapter 23
Brad woke up and felt much better. He sat up as Shinny walked toward him with a glass of water. “I’m feeling better and more myself,” he said with a hoarse voice.
Smiling, Shinny sat next to him with the glass in her hand. “You look a lot better. There is more color to your face.” She lifted the glass toward him. “Would you like some water?”
He took the glass and drank. “Thank you, this is hitting the spot.” He finished drinking and handed the glass back to her. “Could you please get me another glass?”
Shinny took the glass from him. “You are definitely doing better.” She crossed to a sink, filled the glass and returned to Brad’s bedside. She handed him the glass of water and sat down next to him.
Brad drank more slowly and looked around, taking in everything. “Okay, let me see if I understand our situation. One man down, completely surrounded, otherwise, you have everything under control.”
“What gave it away?” She asked, keeping with his light banter.
“We are in a clean room, alone in our skivvies. What more can I ask for?” Brad reached around her waist to hold her.
“How about a ride home or the Zuonopy, whichever is closer?” Shinny leaned against him.
“There is that. How bad is our situation?” He had a good idea, but Shinny probably had more specific information.
“Not completely bad, but certainly not good. We need to get off, but the Fleet is leaking enormous amount of operational information.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been using the backdoor access to monitor communications between Kisskalu’s senior officers. Apparently, Connor and Griken have convinced both Headquarters and CIG to return to this nexus fully armed to recover the Kisskalu and pods, if possible. While it is extremely bad that the Aneplé have this information, we at least have knowledge of the Fleet’s planned movements and the Aneplé’s response.”
Brad grimaced, thinking about the implications. “How long before the Zuonopy is expected back?”
“I’m not sure, considering the timing of the information. But it could be anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five days. It depends on how long it takes the Zuonopy to fully arm all of the attached units. On the other hand, the closer time gets to their return, the more likely the spy on the Zuonopy will report and we will have more details on Zuonopy’s return.”
“Is twenty-five days more time than we need or is it cutting it close for us to arrange transportation back to the Zuonopy?” Brad asked. He looked around for his tablet. “Do you know where my tablet is?”
Shinny reached behind Brad, picked up his tablet and handed it to him. “The strangest part about our new friends is while they are weak on their cyber security, their physical security is a completely different story, which will make the acquisition of a vehicle close to impossible for us.”
It only took Brad a few strokes on his tablet to see he was locked out. “I promise I won’t share the backdoor hack with anyone if you send it to me.”
“Mmm, don’t know if you have the clearance. Might require a body search,” Shinny cautioned jokingly as she sent Brad the hack.
“What should I search first? The Kisskalu or my wife?” responded Brad impishly.
“I have a preference, but duty calls,” Shinny reminded him.
He shifted into a more comfortable sitting position and raised an eyebrow. “You did start the conversation.”
“Just wanted to make sure everything was back to normal,” she answered playfully.
Brad rolled his eyes. “Next time you venture into that territory, I’m going to follow up with a recommendation for operational testing,” he warned her, sighing to himself, as he continued to look at the physical security protocols on Kisskalu’s transportation platforms. “Have you been able to conduct reconnaissance on the platforms to verify the information on physical security?”
Shinny nodded. “I was able to do a little, but my focus has been cleaning the room and finding sources of food and water for
you that are not tainted.” She stood and walked across the room, picked up a small package and brought it back to Brad. “You need to eat and drink to get your strength up.”
Brad opened the package and groaned aloud at the pinkish blue green crap he learned to hate on the Vetyhym. “Thanks. What about you?”
“I’m fine. There is plenty of food on the Kisskalu and I don’t seem to have an issue with it. I’m not sure why people look like they are starving other than they are eating the plants producing the green pollen instead of nutritional food, as there appears to be plenty of food.”
He lifted the package. “I’m not sure I would call this food. My gut instinct is that you should probably avoid eating the tainted food. I don’t know what’s going on with this plant they love, but what I saw was not normal.”
“You are probably right, but for now there isn’t an alternative for you.” Shinny looked at her tablet. There was never going to be a better time to let him know what she thought they needed to do next. He would not be happy, but she believed they had few choices on their own and none of them offered a realistic chance of a successful outcome. “I have gone through a number of scenarios for us to get off the ship and I don’t think we can do it alone.”
“I know it looks bad, but let me look and maybe we can figure out something together.” Brad continued to eat.
“We can’t do it alone. There is a colony of around fifty Neslins being held as prisoners. More than likely we will be successful if we work with them,” Shinny blurted harshly.
Brad stopped eating and stared at her. “No. We complement each other and can function as a cohesive unit even if there are only the two of us. We will find a way back and don’t need the Neslin colony.” He sighed in response to Shinny’s reaction. “I’ve always thought I would be open-minded about aliens, but the Neslins scare the living hell out of me. I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable next to an eight-foot primate that looks like a cross between a gorilla and orangutan. You may feel safe next to them, but I don’t.”