Corruption_Age Of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Sarah Noffke

  Bailey took the cue and opened the jar of peaches. The smell of sweet syrup when the lid released was a stark contrast to the salt of the peanuts and chips.

  Lewis handed her a fork with a wink. “Dinner of champions, am I right?”

  “I’ve gone on less,” she said with a laugh, thinking of basic training.

  “Yeah, me too,” he agreed, sticking his fork into the jar of floating spears, harpooning one. He pulled it out, cupping his hand underneath to catch the drips as he took a bite.

  The two chewed in silence for a long minute, listening to the low music overhead.

  Finally, Bailey said, “So, who is Melanie?”

  Lewis stopped midchew, his fork faltering in his fingers. He caught it before it hit the bar. “Where did you come up with that name?”

  She shrugged, pulling the jar of peaches closer to her and looking down into the floating mess. “I thought I heard you yelling it right before we met.”

  “Oh,” Lewis said, wiping his mouth. “Yeah, maybe you did.”

  “So why did you think she was here when you teleported?” Bailey dared to ask.

  Lewis didn’t look at all receptive to this conversation, but she’d already decided that she needed to know everything, if they were going to work together. It might take a little effort to uncover his story, but she knew from experience that good partners trusted each other, and that came with revelations.

  “I was disoriented,” Lewis lied. “I wasn’t sure where I was or who was here. You remember.”

  “I do,” Bailey said, giving up on the hunt for a floating peach. She pulled the peanuts closer. She could live off nuts if necessary; well, she had, actually. “The thing is,” she continued, “that you seemed to think that she was behind your teleportation, if I remember correctly.”

  “Why would you think that?” he asked.

  “Because I heard someone, who I later realized was you, yell, ‘What the hell do you want?’ ”

  Lewis dropped his gaze. He swallowed. Picked up his drink and drained it. “I thought…Melanie used to mess with me. That’s all. I assumed she was behind whatever had happened to me. I was confused.”

  “Is she the reason you quit being a detective?” Bailey asked.

  Lewis shook his head, a sobering look in his eyes. “I quit because I wanted to.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hatch’s Lab, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System

  “What good is a correlation if we don’t know what the connecting factor is?” Hatch nearly yelled, pacing back and forth in front on the giant screen at the back of his lab. Displayed on the screen was the report from the device Bailey and Lewis had taken at Phoenix Tech.

  “We can deduce that the mineral they excavated is probably the commonality between the monster and Phoenix Tech,” Ricky Bobby stated.

  Hatch sighed loudly and looked around his lab like he was searching for something he’d misplaced. “Or maybe there’s remnants of the monster left behind after it uploaded everyone at Phoenix Tech.”

  “I have an idea regarding the monster,” Ricky Bobby said, his tone calm.

  The ground shook and the lights flickered. Hatch’s cheeks puffed out with frustration. “It doesn’t look like we have much time, so cut the preamble and get to it.”

  “What we need is a sample from the monster that we can compare and analyze,” Ricky Bobby stated.

  “Oh, well, I’d pop down there and take a sample, except that it will upload my consciousness,” Hatch said bitterly.

  “If I had a body, I could take on the job, since AIs are immune,” Pip said smugly.

  Hatch shook his head, still searching his lab. “Yes, you with a body would fix a few different problems. For one, you could help me find my Trifield meter.”

  “Another thing that Knox used to help you with,” Pip said thoughtfully.

  Hatch blinked, looking up. “Another thing? You say that like it’s a continuation of a discussion we were just having.”

  “I would think that the things we’re lacking because the crew is gone would be an ongoing conversation,” Pip explained. “For me, I know not having Julianna’s thoughts continuously pouring through my consciousness…well, it makes for a lot of silence.”

  Hatch opened his mouth to make a rude retort, but stopped himself, realizing he was acting out. In truth, Pip was right. There had been a hole in all of them since the crew had disappeared. The silence was deafening at times.

  It was hard for Hatch to believe that he used to yell at most of his crewmates to leave him alone, and now he found himself looking up when he caught something in his periphery. His disappointment was palpable when he realized the vision was a trick of his imagination.

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he finally said, his voice tired. “Knox would know where the Trifield meter is.”

  “Ironically, you wouldn’t need it if he was here, because you wouldn’t be trying to evaluate a strange monster,” Ricky Bobby said.

  “I could do with fewer of your ironic insights,” Hatch mumbled, his voice nearly drowned out by a loud thumping under him.

  The monster is awake...

  “Then I’ll offer you something of a bit more value,” Ricky Bobby began. “I’ve been running experiments on the monster, as well as recording its resting states. With the information I’ve gathered, I can predict with seventy-eight percent accuracy when it will go to sleep and when it will wake.”

  Pip laughed humorlessly. “You’re like a nanny that knows when your little tyke needs a nap, and when he’ll be up to have a bottle—or pillage and upload innocent consciousnesses, as it were.”

  Hatch almost chuckled. This was truthfully one of the reasons he preferred Pip to other AIs; even during tragedies, his sense of humor was undeterred.

  “Yes, we have the rest states well recorded,” he confirmed. “But what are these experiments you’ve been running?”

  “They are related to temperature,” Ricky Bobby replied. “Decreased temperature results in a more wakeful state, and—”

  “And like a machine, the monster’s functions slow when its temperature increases,” Hatch cut the AI off, his voice suddenly full of excitement.

  “Wait, do you think the monster is a machine? Like a giant, floating computer monster?” Pip asked.

  Hatch shook his head. “We don’t know enough. It seems impossible that a machine could do everything that the monster can, permeating the ship and making bodies disappear.”

  “But that’s what Kyra, the hologram, can do; the one who teleported Bailey and Lewis,” Pip argued.

  “But Kyra isn’t purely machine,” Hatch said, his mind suddenly racing with possibilities. “She’s something else, a blend of sorts. That might be what the monster is, but there’s only one way to test that.”

  “You’re going to need a sample,” Ricky Bobby stated.

  “Exactly.” Hatch hurried to the other side of his lab.

  “Are you going to work on creating a body for me?” Pip asked.

  “Not yet,” Hatch yelled back, tossing different pieces of equipment out of a disorganized pile.

  “Oh. Then what are you doing?” Pip asked, his voice a bit deflated.

  “I’m looking for a way to take a sample,” Hatch replied. “Ricky Bobby, go page the detective and lieutenant. I have a job for them, but they aren’t going to like it.”

  Bailey turned a corner, nearly running into Lewis. “Oh, man, you look like shit,” she said, taking a sudden step backward.

  He made to smile, but grimaced from the attempt. A greenish-blue bruise across his cheek was obviously causing him major discomfort.

  “Thanks. I forgot until I woke up that I’d gotten in a fight with a Trid. Feels like I got slammed in the face with an anvil.”

  “If I remember correctly, it was the Trid’s fist,” Bailey said, continuing down the corridor toward Hatch’s lab.

  Lewis followed beside her. “Yes, you did have a front row seat for the fight.”

  “That’s
the second time you’ve called that a fight, but how I remember it, the Trid was in the process of handing you your ass,” Bailey joked.

  Lewis narrowed his eyes, but sort of half-smiled, as much as the bruises would allow him. “Excuse me. I’m a little out of practice and not entirely used to fighting giant sharks, like some people.”

  “Combat is a muscle that if you don’t use, you will lose,” Bailey said sympathetically.

  “Yeah, I could use a refresher.” Lewis gave her a sideways expression of curiosity, marked by a bit of doubt. “I don’t suppose you’d offer me some lessons? I really don’t want to wake up and feel like I was mauled by a bull again.”

  Bailey patted him on the shoulder. “I’ve got you covered, partner.”

  He grimaced, slipping out from under her hand.

  “What?” she asked, confused.

  “The jacket covers my bruises,” he said.

  She shook her head. “You and that jacket.”

  Harley was dutifully waiting at the entrance to Hatch’s lab when Bailey and Lewis approached. He stood, wagging his tail at them, but a somber look was on his face, despite the welcoming gesture.

  You probably don’t want to go in there, the dog warned.

  Bailey’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But Hatch asked for our help.”

  Yes, but I don’t have a good feeling about this project.

  Lewis leaned down and patted the dog on the head as they passed the entrance into the lab. “Thanks, buddy. We’ll keep that in mind, but we’ve got to at least hear the mechanic out. Otherwise, he might have us teleported to a molten planet.”

  You might be better off with that future, Harley said.

  Bailey gave Lewis a tentative look. “This is sounding foreboding.”

  “What could be worse than flying with a brand new pilot through an asteroid belt to a dangerous dwarf planet?” he joked.

  “There you two are—” Hatch’s face puffed up with shock at the sight of Lewis. “What happened to you, detective?”

  “A couple of Trids at Phoenix Tech,” he grumbled.

  “There was only one, actually,” Bailey corrected.

  Lewis shot her a scathing look.

  She held up her hands. “What? I’m only being honest. I had the other one at gunpoint.”

  “I hope you showed that Trid a thing or two,” Hatch said, waddling over, carrying a cylinder device.

  Bailey suppressed a grin, but when Lewis shot her a punishing look, she slipped her fingers across her mouth. A gesture that said, ‘my lips are sealed’.

  “You have a project for us?” Lewis asked, casting a glance over his shoulder. Harley had joined them in the lab, and was lying with his paws in front of him, his chin down on top of them.

  “A project that Harley seems to have reservations about,” Bailey added, noticing the dog’s nervous demeanor.

  “Oh, that dog is overly protective,” Hatch said, waving a tentacle at the animal. “We need to get a physical sample from the monster in order to compare it to the readings from Phoenix Tech and understand exactly what we’re up against.”

  “Okaaaay,” Bailey said tentatively. “Where do we come in?”

  “I need you two to go down to the lower deck and get that sample.” Hatch said all this quickly, with zero inflection in his voice.

  Harley whimpered and covered his head with one of his paws.

  “You’re a smart dog,” Lewis said, throwing a thumb back in Harley’s direction.

  “Oh, he’s only heard half of the plan, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Hatch dismissed.

  Bailey crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Okay, I’m up for listening to the whole plan. Go ahead.”

  “Well, it’s pretty straightforward,” Hatch began. “Ricky Bobby will bring the temperature up in the lower deck, which will slow down the monster, causing it to materialize. If you go while it’s in its most restful state, you will have the best opportunity to collect a sample.”

  He fell silent, and Lewis looked between him and Bailey, like he was expecting Hatch to keep talking. “And what else?” he pressed.

  The mechanic shrugged. “That’s it. I told you it was pretty straightforward.”

  “But where is the big gun, or some thing you give us to fight the monster in case it wakes up?” Lewis asked.

  Hatch sighed loudly. “I don’t have a weapon because I have no idea what the monster is made of. I could upload another round of viruses to its network, but as we’ve discussed, that could kill the monster, and then we would lose any leads back to the crew.”

  “Not to mention that if the monster is connected to the database where the crew is located, it could corrupt them,” Ricky Bobby stated.

  “But I came up with the idea of sending you two in together because you can protect each other,” Hatch boasted.

  Bailey ran her eyes over Lewis’s bruised face, doubt heavy in her expression. “How’s that?”

  Hatch’s tentacle reached across the lab grabbing up a box-like device. “Well, I can’t upload another virus, but I think that lowering the frequency of the monster could cause slight paralysis.” He handed the device to Bailey. “I’ve taken some generous guesses regarding the monster’s frequency. With this device, you should be able to lower its resting frequency in the case that it wakes up. That would buy you roughly ten to twenty seconds.”

  “Wow,” she deadpanned.

  “I know, I know,” Hatch said, three of his tentacles waggling in the air. “But it’s the best I can do.”

  “But you think that increasing the temperature and going in during a resting state will help, right?” Bailey asked.

  “Yes. Think of it like trying to sneak up on a hibernating bear,” he suggested, handing the cylinder he held in one of his tentacles to Lewis.

  The detective took it, eyeing the strange object. “And this is?”

  “What you’ll use to get the sample,” Hatch stated matter-of-factly.

  “And how am I supposed to obtain that, exactly?” Lewis asked.

  “You only have to get close enough.” Hatch turned, hurrying off in the other direction.

  He almost appeared to be covering his expression as he buried his head behind a workstation, pretending to look for something.

  “Close enough to…what, cut off the monster’s finger?” Lewis asked.

  “Oh, no.” Hatch sort of laughed. “It should be as easy as plucking a feather from a bird, or taking a hair sample from an animal.”

  “Is this when you tell us what the monster looks like?” Lewis asked.

  “It’s kind of hard to explain,” Hatch mused. “The monster is hard to see, like a dust storm. When Ricky Bobby raises the temperature, though, that defense should be hindered, making the monster more visible.”

  Lewis spun to face Bailey, a wide smile on his face. “You ready to go tiptoe around a sleeping bear?”

  Unintimidated by the challenge, she pursed her lips and nodded. “Sure thing.”

  Hatch held up one tentacle to pause them. “I’m glad you’re onboard. We need to wait until the monster is at its deepest resting point, and Ricky Bobby has adjusted the temperature fully.”

  “What do you mean by ‘fully’?” Lewis dared to ask.

  “We have to make it hot as hell,” Hatch answered.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lower Deck, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System

  Bailey peeled off her long-sleeved armor on the way down the stairs. The heat made it hard to breathe, but she tried to pretend they were headed to a tropical beach, and not the holding place of a lethal monster.

  “Wish I’d brought a hand-fan,” she said mostly to herself.

  Lewis halted at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at her. “I don’t think it’s that hot.”

  He’d peeled off his wool jacket and vest, and rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt. They were both sweating profusely, despite their light garments.

  “How can the monster sleep in this heat
?” Bailey asked, pulling her long hair into a high ponytail, off her neck.

  Lewis kneeled down, placing his hand to the ground. “I think the heat is supposed to slow down the monster’s processing abilities.”

  “And? What’s the verdict, detective?”

  He stood, nodding, his eyes on the vibrating ground. “It feels as though it’s in a rest state.”

  Bailey pulled the frequency changer from her pocket. “Then I’m armed and ready to slightly change the monster’s frequency if you get into trouble.”

  He eyed the small device in her hand with a look of disappointment. “It’s not an automatic weapon, but I guess it will have to do.”

  “Hatch says that it takes the monster roughly two minutes to upload, so that should give us plenty of time, if we get in and out of there fast,” Bailey said, her tone bolstered with confidence.

  “That seems like more than enough time.”

  Lewis set off for the door at the end of the corridor, the one that should be marked with a huge ‘X’, warning of the beast behind it, but instead looked like all the rest. He halted, giving Bailey a look over his shoulder.

  “Not that I mind, but how did we get picked for this task, instead of Liesel or Jack?”

  “Obviously we’re the only ones dumb enough to say ‘yes,’” she joked.

  “Or why couldn’t Hatch have created a robot to extract the sample?” he probed further, his mind reeling with questions all of a sudden.

  “That wouldn’t have worked,” Ricky Bobby’s voice chimed overhead.

  “Do tell,” Lewis invited, his hands on his hips.

  “It’s a bit easier to observe than it is to explain,” the AI said.

  Lewis didn’t look at all impressed by this answer, and his silence seemed to encourage Ricky Bobby to keep talking.

  “It’s the same reason that Pip couldn’t have extracted the sample, and why I’ve had problems with it. You see, the monster has a different composition when it doesn’t sense a consciousness nearby. I’ve observed this as you’ve moved closer to the monster when on the upper decks.”