“Then why do you have a gun to my head?” I asked.
She lowered the barrel, as if to prove her point, but it was still pointed in my direction, and I was still trussed up.
“Here’s a thought,” I said, “Why don’t you give me some details and I’ll tell you how I can help.”
“Seems reasonable,” Michael said, from off to the side. He was the only reasonable one of all of us. “Here’s our problem: We left the colony in a hurry and we could only bring limited tech with us. Since then, every time we’ve tried to return to the colony the shadows have prevented us from getting in – until we came for the two of you. We don’t know why. Each time a new group of colonists arrives we try to communicate and join forces.”
“But so far no one has taken us seriously before they were killed by the Javierians,” Roberta said. “And the ones who did take us seriously kept us too busy to allow us near their technology before it was too late.”
“We want to leave Baldric,” Michael continued, “To do that, we need to communicate with a starship. Our technology here can’t communicate with them directly, but there is a satellite that can. However, we can’t seem to get access to the satellite’s systems.”
“So what you need,” I said, “Is to communicate with the satellite to discover when a ship will arrive. You need to access the satellite’s communications, which can probably only be done at the colony, in order to talk to the starship. You then need to convince the Captain to rescue the three of you, and you need to do all of this without being killed by the shadows or stopped by the colony.”
“Precisely,” said Michael.
“And you think she can help,” Driscoll said, and it wasn’t a question.
Roberta looked away and Michael looked at his feet, but Kitsano looked me in the eyes.
“We know that you Matsumotos have a way with the Javierians,” she said, “We’ve seen it in action before. And we know that you have …advantages…in communicating with technology. You’re also recognizable enough that maybe a starship Captain would speak to you.”
I nodded. Driscoll’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you say? Would you like to stop fighting us and lend a hand?” she asked, her mouth twisted in a wry expression.
“Yes,” I said, and I saw their shoulders sag with relief. Too soon. “But, I won’t be your prisoner or your pawn. I’ll be your partner, or nothing.”
“What does that mean?” Roberta asked, taking a step forward.
“It means no more sticking guns in my face or pressing buttons on devices attached to my brain,” I answered, coolly.
“And in exchange?” Lieutenant Kitsano asked.
“In exchange I won’t knock you all on the ground when you untie me,” I said, frowning.
I didn’t like threatening them. I’ve seen so much violence of so many kinds in the past few months that you’d think I’d be immune, but I’m not. I’m especially not immune to being the cause of it. I hope I never am, or I’ll have lost myself.
Driscoll cleared his throat and looked at me meaningfully. My eyebrows knit together as I racked my brain to try to think of what he might be nudging me to do. Did I need to be more specific? He sounded awfully like an irritated tutor trying to remind a child of something.
“And, well,” I said, feeling awkward, “I also should say ‘thank-you’ for rescuing me.”
Driscoll looked smug. I must have guessed what he was getting at. I colored under his gaze, irritated at being treated like a child.
“We don’t need her that badly,” Roberta said with a head toss.
“We’ve been at this a long time,” Michael said with a sigh. “Our last plan was our last ditch effort, and you saw how that ended.”
Roberta flinched.
“How did it end?” Driscoll asked, his eyes narrowing. “I think I’d like to know what hasn’t worked.”
Michael flushed, and no one looked like they were going to answer.
“Patrick Driscoll is the head of a terrorist organization known as Driscoll’s Own.” I said. “He is personally responsible for the murder of innocents, among them many members of my family.”
My eyes had grown rock hard as I spoke and Driscoll raised his chin at the threat in my words.
“Is that true?” Kitsano asked.
“It’s true that I lead Driscoll’s Own,” Driscoll said, almost like he was proud of it. “Whatever you’ve done, I’ve probably done worse.”
“We didn’t plan on doing anything,” Roberta said sullenly.
“It was our error, though,” Michael said, “We tried to hack the programming on the emergency shuttles of El Dorado. We’d tried communication and couldn’t get through and we tried to call the emergency shuttles and couldn’t get our signal through, but we could read their communications, and we planted a hack.”
“That’s pretty sophisticated stuff,” Driscoll said.
“Well, I used to specialize in communications before…” Michael’s voice trailed off as he tried to convey the enormity of his position. “But it’s been a while, and I did something wrong and the hack deleted navigation code in El Dorado, not just the shuttles, and the next thing we knew…”
He spread his hands like he was cradling a mushroom cloud.
“Kablooie,” Roberta finished for him. “The idiot wrecked our only chance and killed thousands of sailors, colonists and marines. I assume you know that since you were aboard. What was it like to live through an emergency like that?”
“I was in a detached shuttle,” Driscoll said.
“Lucky.”
“So that was your last ditch effort? Why don’t you just stroll into the colony and ask for help?”
“We told you we tried that.”
“And? It couldn’t have been so bad. After all, you’re still here.”
“We are,” Roberta said bitterly, “But I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but we have a lot of stuff here and a pretty big set up. Did you think three people built this? There were originally twenty five of us deserters.”
Kitsano shot her a warning look, but I’d heard the word loud and clear.
“Deserters?” I asked quietly, looking Kitsano in the eye.
She watched me for a long time, anger, failure and embarrassment all warring behind her eyes. Eventually she gave an abbreviated nod and stepped towards me with a sigh. I wasn’t sure what she was planning, but the last thing I expected was a knife slipping out from her uniform. She flicked it open, demons warring in her eyes. I didn’t bother going through the whole mental chorus of “am-I-really-going-to-die-like-this” again. It was getting old.
Surprisingly, she didn’t stab me. Instead, she cut the bonds off my wrists and ankles. I relaxed, massaging my wrists where a thin purple line cut deep into my flesh.
“So now you know our secrets,” Kitsano said, frowning.
“And you already knew ours,” Driscoll said. Again, he reminded me of one of my tutors. There was a warning edge to his words. I wondered why he bothered. He’d saved my life a few times now in very subtle ways. It seemed a touch out of character.
“So what now,” Kitsano said, and she seemed more shadow than solid as she said it.
“Now we wait and we plan,” I said, still massaging.
“Agreed,” said Driscoll, and they all nodded.
THE SPLITTING: 24
IT WAS A GOOD THING that the Baldric Three had made themselves at home in the camp they called “The Ledge” because we didn’t have much to occupy us beyond waiting.
The first night we were there they allowed Driscoll and I our own bunks, but took turns ‘keeping watch.’ Based on the looks they exchanged and the fact that they didn’t ask us to take a turn on watch, I figured they were mostly keeping an eye on us – or me. Trust between us was still a little thin.
I cuddled down in the marine-issue cot, grateful to have a real bed for the first time since arriving on Baldric. I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked since I needed to get my
implant working on things, but I tried my best.
That first night I hacked the Baldric Three’s computer systems via the implant, took control of their makeshift antenna, and attempted to hijack the satellite. Like Michael, I was unable to send a signal out from the satellite without direct access to the colony computers, but I could monitor the passives just fine. I set up a monitoring system to alert me of any approaching ships, planetary disturbances or other anomalies.
I also scanned the passives for any information on the El Dorado. She was dead. Her drives were damaged beyond repair, none of her personnel were logged as still living, and even her emergency power had fizzled out. There would be no help on that end.
I had the implant downloading the Baldric Three’s records, it would have to sift through usage reports to glean anything useful. So far the records backed up their claims.
I also tried to access the colony computers remotely, but to no avail. The Baldric Three were right. We would need to physically go back to make any changes. They were visibly worried about the prospect – gun shy. Based on that, I was feeling very grateful that they had come to ‘rescue’ me at all. I hadn’t made my thanks very clear beyond the statement that Driscoll had cajoled from me. I was realizing that gratitude was not my strong suit. That would come back and bite me some day if I didn’t fix it.
The implant still hadn’t detected any damage from my ordeal, but I was worried that the damage wouldn’t be noticeable until it was too late. There was no telling what that device could have done to my implant. I told my implant to continue to run diagnostics concurrently with the other tasks.
After that I let the system work its magic and I went to sleep. I did not dream of Roman, and I was both relieved and terrified by that. Hopefully another ship would come soon. My time to help him was running out.
The next morning, I woke last. I think having had my first real sleep in days had made me sleep longer than usual. Everyone else was holding a whispered conference in the common room around food and hot beverages. They stopped speaking when I strolled in the room.
“Don’t let me spoil the fun,” I said with a raised eyebrow, running my hand through my spoiled hair.
I grabbed the scissors from off the counter and saw Kitsano flinch. I sighed.
“Can anyone direct me to the facilities?”
Roberta pointed to my left, and I worked my way through the maze of makeshift walls and rooms in the direction she had sent me. There were outhouses on the edge of the cliff with a makeshift shower system set up. The shower was chilly as the water poured through a jury-rigged pipe-like contraption straight from the stream. You opened a valve to get it to pour in an enclosed space, and hey-presto a shower. I made use of the facilities, showered, and used the scissors to tidy my butcher-job on my hair. It was still a bit ragged and very short, but it would do. It was far more practical now, and I actually looked kind of … mean. Here on Baldric that was a good thing.
There was nothing I could do about my clothing, but it was made of a dirt-resistant fabric and so a quick brushing and shaking and it was almost as good as clean, although that didn’t do much for the lived-in smell. All of Baldric smelled faintly of rotting citrus, and when you combined that with body odor it was enough to make anyone’s belly roll.
Everyone was still whispering when I returned the scissors. Once again they quieted when I returned. I ignored them.
“Driscoll has been telling us about the things the Matsumotos have done,” Roberta said. Her voice sounded like she was trying to bait me into a fight.
“At any time of the day or night he’s telling somebody,” I said wryly.
Driscoll’s expression was blank, but the others watched me curiously.
“Are you expecting me to defend the actions of my family?” I asked, pouring myself a cup of the hot beverage and sipping. It was a fragrant herbal tea. Possibly local. Probably not drugged. I still hadn’t eaten, but I was doing pretty well despite that. No real loss of energy, though my belly was knotted and painful.
Is there a reason that I can go so well without food? I asked my implant.
Your system is full of injected nanites which were brought up to date at your last doctor’s appointment. They will cannibalize your body to provide the energy that you need. You will not notice many symptoms of hunger. You have approximately twenty-two days of normal activity levels and then you will expire. Increased energy use will shorten that time frame.
“Well, they are your family,” Michael suggested.
I didn’t answer. I just sipped my tea. They were my family, yes, and that made them my responsibility, but my responsibility lay in rectifying their actions, not justifying them.
“He’s also telling us about Driscoll’s Own,” Roberta challenged.
Nice, Patrick. He was the typical terrorist – always recruiting.
“We like what we hear,” Roberta said.
Really, she was going to have to work harder than that if she was going to goad me.
“Then why don’t you join?” I asked, sipping again.
“We already have,” Roberta said.
Was she lying? I glanced at Driscoll. Apparently not. I had thought all that whispering had been about me, but I guess that was a bit egocentric. He’d actually been winning a few converts.
“What you do in your spare time isn’t really my concern,” I said, still playing cool-and-collected with the tea sipping.
Roberta’s eyes flashed, and I hid a smile behind the mug. Score one for Vera. My inner grin faded at Driscoll’s gaze. He was assessing me again and his eyes were narrowed. If I had a father, maybe Driscoll would remind me of him. I disappointed him constantly, never living up to his standards.
“While you were learning the secret handshake I was working on another project,” I said.
“What’s that?” Kitsano said.
“Figuring out how to get us off this rock,” I said. “You were right that the satellite can’t be ordered outside the slaved terminal at the colony, but I can read its mail. We’ll know when a ship is coming. What’s the turn-around from here to New Greenland?”
“Four days,” Kitasano said, and I choked on the tea.
I was still coughing when Driscoll said, “That’s all?!”
“Did you think we were months or years out?” Lieutenant Kitsano said in a dry tone.
“Frankly, yes! They had us in cryosleep!”
“It’s easier to keep the tigers calm when you use a tranquilizer,” Roberta said, almost echoing my thoughts exactly. Maybe she was quicker than I was giving her credit for.
“Plus, no one wants prisoners to know where this planet is,” Lieutenant Kitsano said, “If you ever went back home you could tell people. Or you might be more motivated to try to escape if you knew it was only a few days voyage, not light years. Plus, they can keep you that way as long as they like while they collect prisoners from all over the Empire. Maybe you were in cryosleep for months. Maybe some of you were in it for years.”
That was unsettling. How long were Ian and I held in the belly of that ship before we were put out here? Had I missed years in the outside world? I scanned my memories quickly trying to think if I had seen any hints of how much time had passed in Roman’s memories.
“I thought we were considered ‘colonists,’” Driscoll muttered.
How long were we in cryosleep?
Roberta rolled her eyes and said, “Can we drop the pretense?”
He opened up his palm in a gesture of acceptance.
Eleven months and two days.
I choked back a gasp as I absorbed the implant’s revelation.
“The planet is hidden in plain sight?” I asked Kitsano, trying to cover my shock.
“Yes. It’s in a system that contains a lot of mineral asteroids, but it is flagged as a useless ball of rock. No one questions the surveyor records. Why would they lie?”
It had been almost a year after they separated Roman and I that we landed here. We’d lost almost a ye
ar, and we were only four days away. When Roman had been on the rooftop with the Sergeant they’d been on New Greenland. They’d been only four days away. Where was he now? Was it possible that he was still somewhere that close? My traitorous eyes welled with tears, and I fought to blink them away.
“Well wouldn’t miners notice all the traffic here?” Driscoll asked. He was watching me, with his forehead wrinkled with concern. He could see what I was trying to hide.
“All what traffic?” Roberta grumbled, but Kitsano silenced her with a raised hand.
“The minerals are Crown Holdings and no one has been given access to them for generations. They claim that they are a reserve.”
“Clever enough,” Driscoll muttered, “and typical of Matsumotos.”
I wish I could give us that much credit.
“So if a ship arrives here, how much lead time will we have from the satellite’s warning?” Kitsano asked me.
I shrugged and said, “Hours.”
“And they could arrive any day,” Driscoll said.
“Yes,” I agreed. I was trying very hard to remain cool and aloof, like I was focused on the task, while inside I was a fury of emotions.
Michael glanced at his computer. He knew I hadn’t accessed it, and they had probably checked me for portable devices. His brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
“So either we find a way to go to the colony right now,” I said, “and we establish our connection from there as soon as possible, or we wait for the signal and then we will have to high-tail it there so we can communicate with the ship when it enters Baldric orbit.”
“If we go back we risk dealing with Major Reynolds,” Driscoll said.
“If Reynolds is still alive,” I added.
“And Reynolds won’t work with us,” he said, “Not now. Even before he was attacked he wanted to cut open our heads.”
“Then we wait,” Lieutenant Kitsano said.
“It will make our timeline tight when we eventually do have to get up and go,” I said, twiddling the mug in my hands and desperately trying not to think about where Roman might be and whether he was sailing in the opposite direction.
The Matsumoto Trilogy: Omnibus Edition Page 39