Corruption_Age Of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Sarah Noffke

  Dejoure let out a loud sigh. “I guess so. It was a short dream, thankfully. Ricky Bobby had just been repaired, so the ship jumped right away to avoid any damage.” A vengeful look crossed the young girl’s face. “I can’t stand stupid Suck Butt. That place is pure evil.”

  Bailey was still laughing at “Suck Butt”. “That’s a great name for them. Can you tell us more about the training they made you and the others do?”

  A dark look crossed the girl’s face. “Sure, but it was pretty boring stuff. There was everything from telekinesis to foresight training. I failed most of it because, well, I’m a kid; I’m not a superhero. I don’t know what they were expecting, trying to get kids to tell them the future.”

  “You said you failed most of it,” Lewis replied. “What did you excel at?”

  Dejoure shrugged. “I didn’t really. I had some luck a time or two, guessing what was on the tester’s card. It was all chance, though. Sooner or later, I was going to guess their number—that’s just playing the odds.”

  “Maybe,” Bailey said, an uncertain look on her face.

  “All right,” Hatch grumbled, coming back from the other side of his lab wheeling a piece of equipment. “I found my EEG equipment. Get ready, kid, this is going to hurt.”

  Dejoure backed up a step, hiding behind Liesel.

  “He’s playing,” Liesel explained.

  “I’m not,” Hatch countered.

  “An EEG monitors electrical activity in the brain, and is a completely noninvasive reporting technique,” Liesel said, putting her arm around Dejoure’s shoulder.

  Hatch puffed out his cheeks, giving the engineer a punishing stare. “Why do you have to ruin everything?”

  “Why do you want to run tests on me?” Dejoure asked, fear oozing from her voice as she shrank back against Liesel.

  “We think that you’re special, and want to see if we can figure out how,” Bailey assured her.

  Dejoure shook her head. “I’m not. I’m a nobody. The other kids were special, but they’d been at SB longer and had more training. I wasn’t any good at the tests.”

  “But you think for yourself, DJ,” Lewis stated. “And that’s one way that individuals do better than their peers. Maybe you have some unique ability that SB was trying to uncover.”

  “They weren’t uncovering abilities,” Dejoure said, her voice almost frantic now. “They were trying to make us have them. They were forcing them on us, training us every single day. Please tell me you’re not like them?”

  Bailey shook her head. “We’re not at all like them, and you know that. But if you have a special ability, wouldn’t you want to know about it? Maybe it could help us.”

  “I don’t!” Dejoure yelled, almost in tears now.

  Hatch gave Bailey a contemptuous glare. “Well, as I predicted, this is a complete waste of our time.”

  She shot him a seething glare. “It’s not. She’s afraid because of what Suck Butt has done to her.”

  Hatch nodded and looked at Dejoure. “Your friends here seem to think that you might have a psychic skill, like your ability to find things. I can run a series of tests to prove that they are right or wrong, but I’m going to need you to cooperate with me.”

  Dejoure seemed to consider him. She took a cautious step forward, away from Liesel’s protective embrace. “Okay, I’ll let you test me, but you’ll find out what I already know: I’m completely normal.”

  Hatch puffed out his cheeks, his patience as thin as tissue. “Good. The sooner we do this, the sooner—”

  Sirens wailed overhead, making Dejoure jump. The red lights that were too frequent lately streaked overhead.

  “Enemy ships have jumped within range,” Ricky Bobby reported overhead. “Starboards’ fleet has our ship surrounded, and has fired two missiles.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Hatch’s Lab, Ricky Bobby, Davida System

  “Oh, hell!” Hatch bellowed, three of his tentacles reaching up into the air. “We can’t take a hit now, the engines have just been repaired.”

  “And without the shields, there will be considerable damage,” Liesel reminded them.

  “We need to jump,” Bailey said, her voice adamant.

  Hatch nodded. “Yes, no question. We’re not in a position to fight. Ricky Bobby, jump us into the asteroid belt in this system.”

  “Ship is jumping in three, two, one,” Ricky Bobby counted down.

  The lights dimmed. Lewis felt like his skin was melting off his bones, his mind turning inside out. Jumping was the strangest sensation, even worse than teleporting.

  The lights went out completely. A great shuddering rocked the ship. The emergency lights kicked on as a loud, creaking groan echoed from under their feet.

  Everyone looked around, uncertainty on their faces.

  “Ricky Bobby, report please,” Bailey said at once.

  Hatch cleared his throat. “I believe that’s my line.”

  Bailey frowned apologetically in the dim light. “Sorry.”

  “Ricky Bobby, report,” Hatch repeated.

  “The jump was successful,” Ricky Bobby stated. “We are safely cruising in the asteroid belt; however, that last jump appears to have unsettled the monster. It seems to be expanding.”

  “What? What does that mean?” Bailey asked.

  “I’m not sure,” the AI admitted. “The monster has remained roughly the same mass since boarding the ship, but its energy has shifted. It could be that it has been resting this entire time, and is now fully charged.”

  “Which would mean we need to get it out of this ship,” Hatch stated.

  “Not to mention that the shields and cloaks don’t work as long as the monster is onboard, and we’ve got Starboards on our asses,” Bailey added.

  Two of Hatch’s tentacles reached over to his workstation and began typing, while he looked elsewhere. “I suspect that they might be after us again very soon.”

  “They did find us after we jumped,” Bailey said. “But why do you suspect they’ll find us again? How would they?”

  “It’s the D-factor,” Hatch explained, moving over to his computer to examine the screen. “I was able to confirm that the mineral is part of the chemical composition of the monster. Not only that, but it’s a highly traceable mineral.”

  “And Starboards Corp has been seeking it out and buying it up from all over,” Lewis stated. “They have a way of finding the mineral.”

  Hatch nodded. “Yes. Jack found a report of three pirate vessels carrying D-factor getting robbed recently.”

  “The Trids I was after on Onyx Station when you teleported me,” Bailey began, “They were trying to get rid of a large, black rock. They seemed afraid to have it for some reason.”

  “It’s a trick,” Lewis explained. “Starboards has been posting on the Dark Web, asking for pirates to round up all the doromantinium. Once they do, Starboards finds them, steals the mineral, and disposes of the pirates.”

  “They used that tactic to go after a mine inside Federation territory that would have been off-limits to them,” Hatch elaborated. “There are only two doromantinium mines in this galaxy that I’m aware of. One is in a heavily protected colony area in the Behemoth system, and the other is the one that Phoenix Tech was operating.”

  “So they had been acquiring this mineral through different channels to create the monster,” Bailey pieced together. “Then once they had enough and the monster was operational, they sent it into Phoenix Tech to wipe out the people and the rest of the supply. But why?”

  “I think the monster we’re holding is the first, but it isn’t the last one that they have planned,” Hatch posited.

  “And the monster lets Starboards Corp track us, which means they’ll be back,” Bailey said.

  Lewis’s eyes shot straight to Dejoure. “Your dream last night. You saw Starboards Corp come after us. You even said we jumped right away to protect the repairs that were just made.”

  Dejoure looked to have swallowed a ball of w
ax. Her eyes toggled to different people, uncertainty written in them. “It was a dream. Just me trying to deal with what had happened, like Liesel said.”

  “DJ, do your dreams come true often?” Lewis asked.

  The girl looked toward the exit, hesitation heavy in her eyes. “Yeah, maybe. I mean…there’s at least one dream every night that happens the next day.”

  “At least one?” Hatch asked, his voice rising.

  Dejoure blanched. “It’s usually—well, almost always—something stupid. I see someone trip and fall, or I stub my toe, or I get an answer wrong.”

  “You were exposed to less before,” the mechanic reasoned. “Now your scope is much bigger, so these premonitions are going to tell bigger stories.”

  “Maybe,” Dejoure said nervously.

  “What happened after we jumped in your dream?” Lewis asked her. “Do you remember?”

  She shook her head. “I only remember waking up and feeling the need to hide.”

  “That’s exactly what we need to do,” Ricky Bobby stated overhead. “Starboards Corp has found us yet again. The asteroid belt is providing some coverage for us, but the ships are entering the area and will soon fire missiles.”

  “They want their damn monster back,” Bailey said.

  “They can have it.” Hatch’s tentacle reached over and picked up the device he’d been working on. “I wasn’t finished refining this, but it will have to do. It’s a tracker I created, using the sample you acquired, to stick into the monster’s biosynthetic framework.”

  “A tracker?” Bailey asked. “Why do we need that if we let it go? Couldn’t we figure out how to find D-factor, the same as Starboards?”

  Hatch nodded. “Yes, we could, and that would be helpful for finding Starboards for instance, or finding anyone holding the mineral who might be gearing up to sell it to the corporation. However, my instinct tells me that the monster will lead us to Monstre Corp and to those who were uploaded, since we found no record of them in Starboards’ files.”

  “So we stick a tracker on the monster, and then…what?” Lewis asked. “Let it go?”

  “Not quite,” Hatch qualified. “It needs to be led off the ship.”

  “You mean that it needs to be baited to follow a specific, strategic path,” Bailey inferred, excitement behind her eyes.

  “You read my mind, Lieutenant,” Hatch said, and he actually smiled.

  “I bet you’re thinking that I look like the perfect worm for the hook, aren’t you?” she asked.

  “I was thinking of you as more of a minnow, but yes.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Lower Deck, Hiding behind a distant moon, Ricky Bobby, Davida System

  “This is the tracker?” Bailey asked, holding a small, rectangular box up in front of her face, staring at it with one eye open and the other closed. “It’s pretty unassuming.”

  “That’s only the container,” Hatch corrected her. “The tracker is highly unstable, so you have to keep it inside that box until you’re ready to place it on the monster. When you pull it out, it should sync automatically, magnetized to the monster.”

  “No problem,” Bailey said with an excited tone.

  “Yep, no problem,” Lewis echoed sarcastically. “Just like strolling through a field and picking daffodils.”

  “Speak for yourself,” she laughed. “I’m highly allergic to those pollen-ridden plants. A stroll like that would close up my throat.”

  Lewis gave Hatch a disbelieving look. “She can kick a couple of Trids’ asses, but a handful of flowers will take her out. Does that make any sense to you?”

  “Perfectly,” Hatch chirped, settling his attention on Bailey. “Now, let’s review the plan. One false move, and the monster will escape, able to climb through the other levels of the ship.”

  “Don’t worry,” Bailey stated confidently. “We’ve got the monster’s path through the haunted house planned, don’t we, Harlowe?”

  Lewis nodded. “Oh, yeah. It’s going to be one wild ride for that giant, churning beast.”

  “I’m not worried,” Hatch stated matter-of-factly. “You’re the one who will be uploaded if things go wrong. I will be with the rest of the crew, far away on a Q-Ship.”

  “Well, do us a favor if we don’t return,” Lewis said, a shadow falling across his eyes. “I know you didn’t like us bringing DJ on board, but if something happens to us, please watch after her.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Hatch puffed out his cheeks. “I’m not letting a damn thing happen to that one. If she can see the future, she’s a gold mine of potential.”

  “So we did good bringing her aboard, didn’t we?” Bailey asked.

  “I wouldn’t go that far, Lieutenant.” Hatch turned and waddled away, pausing at the bend in the corridor to look back. “Oh, and one last thing. Be careful. If the monster takes you two, we’ll have to recruit another gullible pair to fight our battles.”

  Bailey batted her eyelashes at the Londil. “Aw, and here I thought you didn’t care.”

  “I don’t,” he called as he disappeared around the corner. “I just want my damn apprentice back.”

  Bailey gave Lewis a sturdy expression, an eager resolve in her eyes. “I don’t know what we’ve gotten ourselves into, but let’s hope we don’t regret it.”

  “Whatever we’ve done, we’re in it together, partner,” he stated, holding out his hand.

  She took it, shaking it with a firm grip.

  The corridor outside the backup server room was dark, dimly lit overhead. Ricky Bobby had diverted all power to place a specific force field throughout the lower level. It wouldn’t keep the monster from rising up to one of the higher decks, but it would encourage it to take a path of less resistance. Lewis and Bailey were the bait that would hopefully get the monster through the maze of connecting corridors, and to the airlock on the far side of the ship.

  The virus that Hatch had been using to subdue the monster had been deleted. The monster wasn’t up to full capacity yet, but it was almost as strong as when it entered the ship.

  Bailey sucked in a deep breath, wondering why she felt so happy even though she was about to put her life on the line. It had been like that ever since she started this mission. Gone were the lonely days of feeling like life’s purpose was somehow beyond her reach. Ghost Squadron had recruited her for an impossible mission, and everything had fallen into place. Or maybe it was only that she never had any time now to think about her problems.

  “I’m in position,” she said over the comm, her back pressed to the wall.

  “I am too,” Lewis confirmed. “Ready when you are.”

  Bailey nodded. She felt like she should say something, in case she didn’t get a chance later. But what could she say to the guy on the other end of the comm—the one she hardly knew, and yet who had risked his life beside her multiple times since this all began?

  Lewis was a good guy, and an even better detective. He was the type she’d always tried to beat in school, but they’d been paired up in a way that harbored no competition. His strengths were meant to complement hers, and vice versa.

  “Okay, well, Harlowe, I just want to say—”

  “Save it,” he said, cutting her off.

  “Huh?”

  “Save it for another time,” he said. “I don’t do goodbyes or farewells. I’ll see you in a few minutes, and then we can toast to our amazing success.”

  A few minutes.

  It was hard for her to believe that a few minutes was all it would take. The final battle with this damn monster would come down to only a few hundred seconds.

  “Alright, fair enough,” she agreed. She lifted her chin, directing her voice to the ceiling. “Ricky Bobby, open the door on my mark.”

  “Awaiting your command,” he reported overhead.

  “Free the monster in three, two, one.” Bailey blinked several times, the tracker tight in her hand. “Now!”

  The cold grass slid against Bailey’s calves as she made her way do
wn to the water’s edge. She’d been down to the lake, but never by herself. Usually her mother or her father accompanied her, but on this particular day, they were working.

  She’d told her sisters to stay at the house, knowing they’d only slow her down. Their grandmother was there to watch over the smaller ones.

  Bailey and her family often spent summers at her grandmother’s cottage, enjoying simpler living. The air was clean in the hills that surrounded the lake, and the lifestyle was enchanting in a way. For one, someone had to come down to the shoreline and pull in the traps every evening. That’s how they ate. That was usually Bailey’s parents’ job, but they had to work, as usual. She wanted to prove she could help, that she could make their life easier. So she’d left while their grandmother was busy bathing the twins, telling her older sisters to cover for her until she returned.

  “It will only take me a couple of minutes,” she remembered telling Lola.

  As she approached the water’s edge where the net was tied, she heard a rustling in the grass behind her. She turned, hoping her silly sisters hadn’t thought to chase after her. The long grass swayed, but there was no one there.

  She turned back, nearing the muddy waters, the bottom of her long dress already caked in the thick clay that was bountiful around the lake. Mom is going to kill me.

  Bailey pulled up her dress in one hand, and took another step, her bare feet sinking deep into the mud.

  Boots! she thought urgently. Daddy always wears boots to pull in the traps.

  She was already there, though. She took another step, her foot making a squelching sound. Something plopped on the surface of the water, creating a giant splash. She looked up, sucking in a quick breath. There was nothing there. She pulled her feet out of the mud, and backed up. Maybe I should have waited for my parents. Didn’t they say that predators live in these waters?

  Again something rustled behind her. Closer.

  Bailey swung around.

  There was nothing there.

  She let out an excited breath and turned, panic overwhelming her gut at once. There, standing on the muddy banks of the lake, was the monster she’d only ever seen in books. It’s long top teeth hung over its bottom jaw, and its narrow snout sniffed at the air.