by K. Gorman
“Hello, Shadow.” She glanced about. Roughly a dozen more had appeared throughout the bridge, causing a minor disruption. Some of the Centauri had jumped from their seats.
But they only gaped. No one attacked, though she could tell some wanted to. The nearest cyborg had a strained expression that made her think he was doing the mental equivalent of sitting on his hands.
“We’re over,” she said, turning back to the front and striding toward the front windows. “Captain, please proceed.”
“Yes, Regent.”
The floor gave a small nudge. The ship’s grav gen compensated a second later, keeping only a small pull in effect as they accelerated.
Outside, space was pitch black. Not a single star shone in the void.
“Scans show a planet and a satellite consistent with Earth and Luna.” Captain Arnelli was bent over one of the navigation desks. “There is some interference. Not much light, but we do detect a nearby star with a radiation pattern consistent with Sol.”
Which meant that the sun was still there, just not shining.
“If you’re looking for answers, I don’t have them,” she said. “Sadly, Fallon did not see fit to run any tests on the Shadow world.”
They were pretty quick to pick apart the Shadow Nemina, Tia commented.
Yes. Too bad they didn’t extend that enthusiasm to anything remotely useful.
“Any idea on what that interference is?” she asked Captain Arnelli.
“Negative, Regent. It’s coming up on the magnetic spectrum. Would you like us to run scans?”
“Only if they don’t interfere with our mission.” She shook her head, then stood at the windows, crossing her arms over the blood-splattered armor on her chest. Gods, she could still feel some of it at the edges of her face and neck, areas she’d missed with the cloth, and there was definitely some in her hair.
I hope this place has a shower.
She gave her head a mental shake and stretched her right shoulder, staring out into the blackness beyond the window panes.
“Do we have anterior lights?” she asked.
“Yes, Regent.”
“Turn them on. Maybe we’ll see something.”
Tillerman gave a quick command in Centauri. A second later, lights on either side of the bridge’s windows switched on, revealing the white and gold curves of the Artemide’s hull and bridge flare.
And, in front of them, the darkness yielded in a veil of cloud.
The bridge went dead silent.
It looked as though they were moving through a massive cloudbank. The blackness undulated like a mist, spreading thin over the panes as the ship accelerated across the space.
It was dizzying to watch. She flinched as they smashed straight into the peak of another black cloud, its particles scattering over the panes and sliding back. At the side, she saw the same occur over the hull.
This looks a lot like Sasha’s power, she said.
Yes, Tia agreed. Something to ask Tylanus about, perhaps?
Definitely.
“Well, I suppose we found our disturbance,” she said. “Captain, scan what you can now, but save any deeper scans for another time, when we're not against the clock. I definitely want to know about this.”
“Yes, Regent.”
She breathed out, watching another formation of black cloud crash silently over them.
Suns.
They continued through the density for another five minutes, the ship accelerating silently through. The clouds didn’t appear to give them any trouble, but Karin couldn’t take her eyes off of them.
Everything about them just felt…odd.
And the Shadow never left her side.
After the five minutes and fifty-eight seconds were up, a notification from the navigation station beeped, and there came a slight backwards nudge as the ship’s anterior thrusters slowed their momentum.
But it was only slight. Which meant that the Artemide had some excellent G-force dampening. Even on the Manila, one of Fallon’s most advanced, prestigious ships, capable of turning moves of hundreds of G-forces into sub five for its crew due to its grav generators and dampening, the nuance of movement was still detectable.
The Artemide’s movement, by contrast, was a fine art.
“Regent, we’re here.”
Down to the second. Impressive.
“Perfect,” she said, reaching out for the dimensional fields. “I’ll bring us back over.”
Transitioning the ship back over was the same as the first time. The power splintered her mind, like her brain was being forced into every nook and cranny of the ship. Every duct and rivet, every breath of air, every heartbeat, every slip and dance of energy, every flicker of light and electricity―it all played across her mind in multiple streams.
At some point, pain spiked. A heavy throb. Her body rebelled. She gasped a hiss, clenching her teeth as her chest seized. It felt like an arc of electricity slashed through her body.
She pulled the ship across, a wash of awareness running over her as the Shadows vanished with their world.
Then, alarms and notifications began to ring out, and the holoscreen lit up with a play of ships in their immediate field.
They hadn’t moved the Leonessa as she’d thought they might. Instead, they’d mustered their forces into a defensive ball around it. Extra labels on the map indicated that every ship had their shields active.
A warning alarm sounded, followed by another two dozen in the subsequent second.
“Regent, we’ve been target-locked.”
She wiped the fresh blood from her nose and forced herself to straighten. “How are our shields?”
“Holding. No strikes yet.”
“Did they evacuate?”
Tillerman paused. Her expression turned grim as her eyes skimmed a report on the holoscreen in front of her, then her eyes shifted to Karin. “No.”
Ah.
“Regent, we’re being hailed,” said new Communications Specialist Asner. “The Aquila.”
“Put her up.”
This time, instead of spreading the screen, Grand Regent Nolen appeared at the edge, blocking a useless part of the map.
“Grand Regent Nolen, I see you did not evacuate Leonessa,” she said.
“You’re terrible at military strategy. Did you know that?”
Karin didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she chewed her tongue, considering the screen in front of her. Grand Regent Lora Nolen was a hawk of a woman, with blue eyes that sparked with an intensity and a set of lips that could so easily twist into a sneer.
Under different circumstances, she might have liked her.
Now, she was just in her way. And Karin didn’t have time for her.
None of them did.
She sighed and leaned onto one hip. “You just aren’t going to stop, are you?”
At the side of the command station, Tillerman grew very still.
“Never,” Nolen hissed. “You are a disgrace, and I will not live a day longer with the Tri-Quad in your hands.”
“That’s…too bad. I’d meant to give you a show of power by destroying an empty, high-valued ship. However, I can see that you won’t take reason, even when faced with the literal annihilation of our species and its history, and the universe as we know it. While I regret the deaths that are about to occur, I simply do not have the time to continuously deal with you.”
There was another call coming in from Fallon, but she ignored it. “Leonessa will live, but you and Aquila will die. Goodbye, Grand Regent Lora Nolen.”
And, with that, she focused on the Aquila through the ship’s windows, reached out through the dimensional fields, and sliced it in half.
Chapter Twenty
The sun hit her eye with a glare, and Eva winced, lifting a hand to block it as she stepped out from the shadow of the compound. It was always bright in high summer, after the monsoons had rolled through, and the entire parking lot shone with water and long, shallow puddles that filled its dips and cr
acks.
Up ahead, Dr. Corringham―Bernard, the older one―waited beside his car with the passenger’s door open.
She glanced down at the new school shoes they’d bought her―shiny black leather, like she’d seen private school girls wear on television―and edged around the next puddle, not wanting to get them dirty.
“Where are we going?” she called across the lot.
“A special dinner and a few nights in the city,” he answered. “Did you bring your pill box and ID? We’ll be flying.”
A plane? She perked up. She hadn’t been on one for a few months. If they needed her ID, that meant they were going into one of the larger cities. Sao Paulo perhaps, though it was a bit of a ways. Manaus, more likely.
This was atypical. Normally, the kids at the compound flew out once a year, and usually not until December. The main company’s execs lived on Nova Earth, and getting away for travel through the ERL gate was a hassle.
They could just stay on Nova and invite us all over there. I wouldn’t mind seeing the planet.
That, and gate travel sounded particularly fun. She wondered how it would interact with her powers.
In hindsight, that’s probably why they haven’t invited me.
“I’ve got everything.” She glanced back at the compound building. “Are the others not coming?”
“No. They wanted to see you, specifically.” He opened the door wider for her as she reached the car, taking her bag for her. “It’s amazing you made it this far with your powers so stable, you know?”
She gave him a look. “It’s evolution.”
“Yes, well, we helped it along more than a bit, and often, Mother Nature doesn’t like that. Here. I got this for your hair.”
He produced a small plumeria bloom from his pocket, likely cut from the tree in the pot on his office’s balcony. The faded white and yellow matched its coloring.
She raised an eyebrow. “You playing the race card?”
Although she had been created in a test tube and developed in an artificial womb in Brazil, all of her genetic sources had been native Hawai’ian in origin. His reasoning had been largely incidental―a simple experiment to see whether homogeneity affected the success rate of the Eurynome Project Programs.
But this wasn’t the first plumeria she’d received.
“They’re thinking of offering you a scholarship in one of Nova’s universities, but you are not the only one being considered. They are also hesitant because of what you can do.”
“They’re afraid I’ll end the world,” she said. “And their world, specifically, because I’ll be located on Nova and going through the usual unpredictable emotional binge of a college student out for her first years of independence.”
“Yes,” he said.
“That’s stupid. My powers are an asset to my studies. Program Chaos is a creation goddess.”
“These are people who do not read the reports very intensely. Terms like ‘chaos’ and ‘pocket dimension’ and ‘quantum fields’ raise flags.”
In that case, they should be more worried about you.
She took the flower from him. “So, I’m playing dumb?”
“Politically dumb, academically average but earnest―not a threat―mostly demure and shy. Wear the flower. It’ll help make you stand out as more than just another brown girl from an impoverished country.”
Her jawline slackened as his words hit.
Christ, racist much?
He shut the door before she could respond and walked around the front of the car. She closed her mouth and decided to let it go, smoothing her skirt over her knees and glancing at the two overnight bags on the back seat. They’d packed enough for three days, which meant that he planned more than just a simple dinner with company business execs. Shopping, most likely. He always brought some form of alcohol back for the shelf of his office. She rarely saw him drink it. That was more the younger doctor’s play―Elliot—rather than Bernard.
Bernard was…different. More intense.
She smoothed her skirt again, her hands betraying her nerves. In her lap, the brightness of the plumeria bloom stood out against the deep navy blue of the skirt’s material.
He got in and shut the door. The noises from outside quieted. Already, the humidity was dying down in the car. The vehicle started with the press of a button and a fingerprint scan, the electric engine little more than a hum, and pulled out of the spot with the crackle of tires on broken concrete. The air conditioner tripped on after a few seconds. There were still drops of rain on the windshield from earlier.
She smoothed her skirt a third time.
“You think they’ll give it to me?” she asked. “The scholarship?”
“I hope they do.” Under the trees, Dr. Corringham’s eyes reflected a green, shadowy tinge. “You’re one if the smartest students I’ve had the pleasure of teaching.”
“I could come back and help with Eurynome.”
“We would be lucky to have you.”
A warm flutter rose in her chest. She directed her gaze out the window.
The Eurynome Project…it could change the world. Elevate all of humanity to a new understanding.
And, with her powers, she’d make sure it did.
Chapter Twenty-One
It was like watching a wreck in slow motion. Half the Aquila went dark, and a blast of air burst out into space from the breach, pushing the ship’s two halves apart. Lights flickered, and debris shot into space, along with hundreds of people. She got one second where Nolen’s expression had shifted and her head half-turned, body bracing against something, and then the feed cut.
Her frozen picture remained on the screen, a ‘call lost’ notification flashing in the corner.
Through the windows, Karin watched the Aquila fall apart.
Around her, the bridge was dead silent except for the slow beep of the lost signal.
She shifted her attention from the windows to the holoscreen. “Take the call feed down and zoom in cameras, please.”
“Yes, Regent.”
“Life pods ejecting,” one of the nav techs said. “Do I target?”
“No. I’m not going to track them down. Not yet, anyway. How are our target-locks?”
“One gone, fourteen still active,” Captain Arnelli said, a touch of dryness to his voice.
“Send out a wide-spectrum broadcast to all Center Core ships: I do not wish to engage them, and I will only do so if they continue to pose a threat and interfere. If I am forced to re-engage, I will deal with all of them. Send another message directly to Leonessa and let her know that she is out of my targets and that I have no intention of engaging her unless she instigates. Let me know when it is sent, and take us back to our fleet.”
She wiped at the blood coming from her nose, leaving another red smear on her forearm armor. Tillerman was staring at her, a mix of careful emotions on her expression.
“Yes, Commander?” she prompted.
Her jaw muscles tensed inside her cheek, and she hardened her expression. “It’s nothing, Regent.”
“Clearly, it’s not. Did you have a question? I promise I won’t care or be offended.”
She hesitated. “You didn’t have to kill them. You could have put them in the other world, couldn’t you?”
“I could have, yes. They would have been safe, most likely, and they would have been out of the way. If they wandered, I could have simply hunted them down when this was all over and transported them back. They likely had enough supplies on board to survive that. However, it wouldn’t just have been them―most likely, I would have had to transport their entire fleet over. I still may have to, depending on how they react. Then, they may have posed a risk for when we inevitably find ourselves back in the Shadow world again, only this time we would be fighting for the survival of the universe. Mostly, it would have been more effort. This method was more efficient.” Seeing the barely-concealed disgust on Tillerman’s face, she tugged her lips into a thin line and gave her a grim sneer. “You
forgot, Commander. I am a psychopath.”
“Regent, seven target-locks have disengaged,” Captain Arnelli said.
“Thank you. Captain, Commander, take us back to our fleet. Let me know if any of those other target locks fire on us, I’ll take us back to the Shadow world.” She glanced over. “I’m going to get out of this armor. Specialist Malouf, if you would be so kind?”
Malouf, who had been leaning against a wall close to one of the stations, gave a nod and pushed off, leading the way back to the door.
It hissed closed behind them.
He offered her the cloth again.
She shook her head. “No, I think it’s my own blood, this time.”
“There is a Med bay in your quarters,” he said. “Do you need help out of your armor?”
“No. It’s easy to take off alone. Just awkward.” She gave him a terse smile. “Thanks for the offer.”
He bobbed his head. “I would have found a female attendant for you.”
“I’m sure.”
The comms device in her pocket rang. She pulled it out and pressed the button. “Yes?”
Tillerman’s voice came out. “Regent, all target-locks have disengaged.”
“Thank you, Commander. Let’s leave them be.”
“We’re being hailed. Fallon, Alliance, UN, Mars, and a private vessel.”
Her eyebrows twitched. “A private vessel?”
“The Golden Haiku, Regent. Freighter, by the looks of her. They hailed the former Regent before. I believe they’re trying to sell you some of their stock. They carry sub-grade electronics, by the catalog they sent.”
Her jaw slackened for a moment, and amusement bubbled through her gut.
“That’s pretty ballsy, selling shitty electronics to a foreign superpower who specializes in cybernetics.”
“Indeed.”
“You know what? Tell them to re-send the catalog. I think we could use a laugh. Make sure to scan the hell out of it, though. I don’t want any random fucking viruses getting into our networks if they are not who they pretend to be.”
“Yes, Regent. And the others?”
“Tell them that Center Core fired on us first and that, unless they do the same, they are not a military threat to us and that I’ll speak with them in an hour. Let me know if they target-lock.”