by Justin Sloan
“What’s…” he started, but realized it as he was asking. “You have trackers on us?”
“The suits,” she replied. “Of course. We have to keep tabs on our investments, don’t we?”
He shrugged, finding that very unsettling, considering what he was planning on doing. “Makes sense.”
“This is your first time in the sim since you got the most recent upgrades,” she said, pulling up her wrist screen and looking over the stats. “You’re going to be in for a surprise, I’d wager.”
“Yeah?” Good, get her in the right mood. They exited the room and he glanced back, noting that the green dots were still in the area of the dome. He figured he had at least an hour… probably.
“So… got that out of your system, did you?” Trish asked as they went through the hall. She opened the door and waved her hand over her wrist screen, watching as the room turned into the regular space sim. Without waiting for an answer, she said, “I have an idea… let’s up the sim, shall we?”
“That’s possible?”
“Stealth, if we only ever practiced in the same way, how would we grow?”
He shrugged. That made sense.
“I’ll be on the other side, monitoring,” she said with a wink, then left him to it.
He stepped into the room as the space around him darkened. A form appeared next to him—Nightshade. She turned to him, her mask glowing, and then nodded before running to jump to the next ledge. As she leaped, he saw a flash of light at her ankle. Of course, she was part of the sim.
So what, just a chaser? He figured that wouldn’t be so bad, so he ran and jumped after her. But as he landed, he saw that she had turned back at him and pulled a gun. Tracer rounds went off, hitting him. Even though it was a simulation, his suit reacted, throwing him back so that he fell mid-jump to the ground below.
Only this time it wasn’t the puff of air he’d landed on in the past. He hit with a thud, and groaned. All around him was tall grass, something slithering through it. Okay, he could see how this training simulation worked better for actual combat, but was already pretty sure he didn’t like it.
The slithering was audible now, and he pushed himself up. Running, he leaped for the closest pillar just as a serpent appeared from the grass, open mouth and fangs coming for him. His newfound strength pushed him farther than before, and he landed almost at the top of the pillar, his suit adding the extra thrust needed to make it.
But there were two other soldiers up there, each aiming in at him. Damn. He knew his skills were better now, though, so he relied on them. Sprinting forward, he leaped into the air and twisted as he went. His surroundings spun and red tracer rounds went past in a blur. He landed on a pillar two over from where he had been, and then Nightshade came for him, knife in hand, thrusting and stabbing.
Every move she made was closer to hitting him, no matter how fast he dodged. As in real life, she was faster, stronger. So he had to think outside the box, not fight here as he would fight anyone else.
As the next strike came, he grabbed a nearby rope and used it to wrap around her wrist to catch the knife. While it didn’t make actual contact, as Nightshade wasn’t really there, it acted as if it had and the knife fell. Stealth hit her with a forward kick that sent her flying, and didn’t hesitate before running and leaping for the next pillar.
His speed and power in the jump were unlike anything he’d ever experienced. A rush filled his limbs and chest, similar to the feeling of the pump after a good workout.
But as the pillar approached, he realized it was moving. No, not moving, but covered in those snakes. One rose up to meet him and he thrust his hands forward. At the action, two blades emerged, one from each arm, and he cut into the snake. They were only simulated blades, but it was still amazing. He landed and was spinning, slicing, dicing, separating snake heads from snake bodies three at a time. More kept coming, though, and he realized all he had to do was clear a path and he was free.
He ran, arms flying, and then leaped again, clearing the course at the same time as Nightshade appeared at his side. This time, instead of fighting, she saluted, then vanished.
Lights went on and the door behind him opened. Trish nodded, looking at her screen, then moved her hand over it so that it vanished.
“Not bad. I’m impressed.”
“That was better than not bad,” he said, chest still heaving and adrenaline running. “Did you see me in there? I was a monster!”
She laughed, then gestured him out with her. “Going again?”
“Maybe, just… have to catch my breath.”
“Sure, sure.” She eyed him again, then said, “You know, I just checked. The rest of the team will be here in about ten minutes.”
That killed his buzz real fast. Ten minutes wasn’t much time, especially not to play it as he had. What now? Seduce her? That thought almost made him laugh, though it was in theory possible, judging how she had acted at least somewhat flirtatiously earlier.
He didn’t have it in him, though, and knew it would require too much acting.
Instead he sighed, realizing the honest route was really the only route for him. As much as he hated it, he had to tell her.
“Here it is…” He hesitated, watching her face for signs of betrayal or mistrust.
“Yes?”
Unable to read what was there, he continued. “If we only have ten minutes, we need to act now.”
“I knew it,” she said with a laugh and a shake of her head. “Dammit, I knew it. All of this, what, to get on my good side?”
“You can live your life without knowing what you left behind, fine. Not me.”
“You know it’s not like that… but we’re here for a reason. We’re here to see that the aliens don’t get a jump on us, that—”
“For all we know, we’ve already met aliens and don’t know, because we don’t remember a damn thing!”
She blinked at that. Maybe she had never considered that possibility?
“Listen,” he continued, “for all we know, none of this is real. They’re manipulating us, taking our memories because they want to use us for some crazy scheme, I don’t know what. But as it is, we are effectively slaves. Don’t be the one that withholds the key to my freedom.”
For a long moment she stared, then shook her head. “I can’t believe you. What do you need? What could I possibly give you that would be this so-called key of freedom?”
“The key to my freedom… is the key to Veles’s freedom.”
“Hold the hell up.” She took a step away from him, expression scrunched up with wide eyes, as if she’d been betrayed. “You’re sitting here telling me this so that you and Veles can walk out of here? For what? Dammit, and don’t you lie!”
“Have I lied at all here?” He gestured around them. “Who has lied, them or me? I’m the only one here not lying to you.”
“DAMMIT!” She turned, tossing over the white sofa, then spun back on him. “You’re new here, so… so how about we pretend none of this happened, huh? Just… get some sleep.”
“I can’t.”
She glared at him, then tilted her head and gave him a smile. “Another way, then. Maybe you need a rinse after all that action? Hmm? I can join you, we can… you know, and forget this ever happened.”
“Trish, please…?”
“You know my brother will kill you. Him and the others you could instead call your friends, they’ll come after you, hunting you down.”
“And you? Don’t you want answers?”
“I don’t want to be involved.”
“Don’t you want the truth?”
“I can’t handle the truth!” she screamed at him, backing away. “You think knowing will be better? Then what, huh? You think you can find a way to escape after New Origins knows you’ve betrayed them? You’re on a space station, dammit. The only way out of here is on a shuttle to one of the other space stations, controlled by New Origins’s allies, don’t forget, or through the space elevator, which is also highl
y controlled and monitored. Oh, I remember another way out of here… death. Just leap out of an air lock right now and save us all the trouble, why don’t you? Because if you’re not gonna, I can go grab a DD4 and end it right here for you. But don’t you dare ask me to go on the run with you, searching for answers, because I don’t want the damned answers.”
As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point. There was nothing he could do with the information even if he had it. There were lots of places to hide on the space stations, but the only reason New Origins didn’t crack down on the criminal activity as it stood was to keep up the façade that they weren’t slavers. And also because they needed the black market and what came with it.
It was part of who they were, as the system.
But if he went into hiding, he didn’t doubt it wouldn’t take them long to find him. And what good would that do? He’d sit in some cell, knowing something he didn’t know before, maybe.
Or maybe… maybe he’d be with her? The woman from his memories. Possibly the same woman he had seen twice now. The target.
He didn’t give a damn if it cost him his life, he had to know. He had to figure this out.
“Please?” he asked. “You don’t want it, but I do. I need it. You can kill me, sure… but that’s the only way to get me to stop this, and I don’t think you want to kill me. I think you want me to find my answers, because you’re too damn scared to find your own. Live through me, Trish. Help me do this.”
There were tears in her eyes, but as he realized that, he also realized his own vision was blurred. Wiping his eyes, he turned to her again. She was holding out something. A small access key, round and magnetic.
“Hold it to the pane,” she said. “When the screen comes up… Six, four, nine, three. Got it?”
“What about you?” he asked, slowly taking the key.
“You hit me. You whupped my ass and took it. Pressured the numbers out of me.”
“No, Trish—”
“Shut up. Go. I’ll make it look realistic. Just… go.”
“I can’t let you,” he protested, but she had already turned and slammed her face into the wall, cursing as she turned back with a line of blood on the wall and dripping down her brow. As he stared, it healed.
“Go.” She turned again, and he couldn’t watch. He wanted to stay and stop her, but she was committed. “And, Stealth…?”
“Yeah?”
“Leave the suit, or they’ll track you.”
He nodded and ran into the hall, where he removed the suit and exoskeleton, having only his regular uniform on underneath.
When he returned to the cell, he did as she had commanded. To his relief, the cell opened, much to a very surprised Veles.
“You better be worth it,” he said, pulling Veles out. “If I find out you’re lying, or if you betray me, you’ll pay.”
Veles smiled at him, and then was pulled along as they exited. “Believe me, soldier boy, I owe you one. In the circles I’m part of, that means something. Unlike here.”
“Just shut up and lead the way.” Stealth sat the man in front of him on one of the hover cycles, told him to give directions, and then they were off. His only solace was in knowing that Trish wouldn’t be really hurting herself, just creating the blood trail to sell the story. Part of him hated himself for allowing it to go down as it had, and the rest of him saw no other way.
If possible, he’d find her someday and make it up to her. Maybe with her own freedom, her own answers without a place like this to keep her enslaved. He hoped.
22
Alice: Titanian Hideout
Alice hadn’t been able to sleep most of the night. She woke up over and over, each time with a different dream of what it would be like to reunite with Marick again. He was there, right there, as if she could just reach out a hand and grab his, pulling him to her.
In one dream, she’d been back in their kitchen, watching the spaceships soar through the air as they arrived to bring in new recruits. It hadn’t been his turn yet, at that point, but he had the yearning, the itch to explore space, to be up there with the best of them. She had wrapped her arms around him and kissed the back of his neck as he sat there, watching.
“You’ll make it,” she told him. “You always achieve whatever you set your mind to. Got me, didn’t you? And I was way out of your league….”
He turned, laughed, and pulled her in for a kiss. “You still are. Why do you stay with me?”
“Because it’s not true, and because there’s nobody more perfect for me than you are. I admire your determination, you know that?”
“Me?” He scoffed, standing to get more coffee. “You’re going to be CEO within the year, if you keep it up. Don’t think I haven’t heard what they say of you at the Christmas parties.”
“I do what I can,” she’d replied. But then the dream had started to morph. Now PD soldiers were storming through her apartment, shouting commands and throwing her table and the coffee pot against the wall, and her husband wasn’t to be seen.
Spiders crawled out of the PD soldiers’ uniforms, covering the floor and ceiling, scurrying across Alice’s legs, up to her mouth, and then inside.
That’s when she woke, shaking, and threw herself out of bed. No spiders, thank God.
Of course, she hadn’t been able to go back to sleep after that. Instead she pulled up the information on her target, the woman that she would become in the morning.
Jane Lenz. Thirty-four years old and with hair only slightly shorter than her own. No freckles. In fact, this woman looked more like Alice’s true self than she did right now, in her disguise. The file said she had joined out of college, even went into details about a boyfriend who had tried to convince her not to, a young man in the government. Why that was significant, Alice wasn’t sure.
She continued to assess the papers, reading all she could until the lighting began to do its best to resemble sunrise. Others started stirring, but by then she was already up and had her appearance ready to go.
“Last chance to change your mind, honey,” Yerbuna said, still arranging her orange and gold robe. “Once you get in there, you’re not going to have communications with us. The only way to get out is to come running.”
Swinger entered, adjusting himself inappropriately and then grinning when caught. He took a seat behind one of the screens and pulled up the information on the docks.
“Saw you couldn’t sleep,” he said, nodding to Alice. “Me neither, most of the night. Looks like I was able to make good use of it, too.”
“What’ve you got?” Yerbuna asked.
“A list of soldiers, and letters to their loved ones.” He nodded, opening a few of them. “Alice here wasn’t the only one to be notified about a deceased who, according to this, never died. If everyone back on Earth knew about this….”
“It can’t be legal,” Alice said, growing furious. “If the government found out—holy….”
“What?”
“Alice’s sister!” Intrepid said, leaning against the doorway.
“She’s just started out, but yeah, FBI. If we can get this information to her, somehow.”
“No way we’re getting a message like this off station,” Intrepid said. “Sorry to be a downer.”
“Nothing new,” Swinger pointed out, which was entirely true.
“And yet… if there was a way.”
“What is it you’re thinking?” Yerbuna asked. “Wait, no… you mean to go to Earth?”
“When I get him back,” Alice said, “I’m not staying here.”
“Him?”
She stared around, wondering who here was aware of the situation with Marick, and who wasn’t.
“There’s another reason Alice wants to go in there,” Intrepid said. “She saw him.”
Alice nodded. “We have Scorpio to rescue, and Norwal… and my husband.”
“He is one of the soldiers,” Yerbuna said, nodding as she got it. “All the pieces fall together, now.”
�
�Find them first,” Swinger said. “Don’t forget. You get them out of there, then go for your man. Once you’ve exposed yourself like that, there might not be room for anything else.”
Intrepid scoffed. “Did you just basically tell her to get them free first, because she’ll be a prisoner after that?”
Swinger shrugged. “She’s committed. I’m not sure it’s a great idea, but I’m not going to talk her out of it. There’s the fact that trying to get to a PD soldier is more dangerous than simply finding out where our friends are being held.”
“He has a point,” Alice said, cutting off Intrepid’s further attempts to argue. “And don’t worry, I’ll get them.”
“Come on, then,” Intrepid said, gesturing for Alice to follow him.
“To where?”
He laughed. “As much as you think you knew about your husband, being married to a Marine doesn’t mean you really know how to be a Marine. You want to be this Corporal Lenz, you need to understand what it means to be a Marine. That’s where I come in.”
“The ex-Marine,” Swinger said.
“No such thing,” Intrepid growled, earning him a laugh from Swinger.
“Just messing, just messing. If you haven’t said that a thousand times, I’m not the sexiest man on this space station.”
Nobody knew how to respond to that, so Alice stood and gave him a friendly nod. Then she followed Intrepid out of the room to begin her training while the rest continued to get everything in place for the big operation.
23
Stealth: Titanian Hideout
Dammit, man,” Stealth hissed, crouching behind Veles, “where are you taking me?”
They had been on the move most of the night, dodging along corridors after ditching the bike. Veles had insisted it likely had a tracker. Now they were ducked down beside a building that led out into the open deck of stalls with greasy-smelling foods, overworked miners, and …
“We’re not going to make it on our own,” Veles said, leering back at him. “As the leader of much of the underground, I have certain strings that need pulling if we’re going to get you to the Heel. Patience.”