The Secretary hustled to Lance’s table-for-one and appropriated a chair from the table next to his before sitting down without an invitation. “We have a problem.”
“You mean, you have a problem.” Lance continued to eat and read, ignoring the interruption in the hope that the Leath secretary would get the hint and leave.
No such luck.
“General Reynolds!” Harkkat pressed, his tone rising in alarm. “This is no trifling matter. The ship I sent out to investigate new mining prospects has been destroyed. Utterly destroyed. There isn’t a single survivor to tell us who attacked them.” He jabbed a thick finger at Lance, almost knocking the datapad out of his hand. “You have a duty to tell me what you know.”
Lance paused his eating and pointed his fork at Harkkat. “Let me be clear. My duty is to the Federation as a whole, not to the self-interests of any single member species. I went over and beyond any duty when I told you to stay the hell away from the border systems.” He placed his fork on the table and topped his coffee up. “Should you care to bring the matter in front of the council, I’ll be happy to adjudicate the penalty for attempted financial fuckery. Otherwise, Secretary, we are done with this conversation.”
He gave Harkkat a moment to reply, then turned his attention back to his breakfast, reading when none was forthcoming. “That’s what I thought. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I prefer to eat alone.”
Harkkat all but boiled at the dismissal.
Why were humans so difficult to work with? They couldn’t see the benefit in looking the other way unless it suited them to do so.
The General had no idea how much pressure Harkkat was under from the representatives.
Ever since the Empress had removed the defunct Kurtherian religion from their society, half the Leath leadership had done their utmost to milk the Federation kitty for all they could, while the other half… They sounded more like separatists every time Harkkat called to receive his orders.
Harkkat put it down to the sudden boom in the manufacturing sector.
The market held little interest to him beyond the impact the fluctuation was having on his homeworld. However, the loss of Glureg had hit him personally. The celebrated veteran wasn’t just Harkkat's friend, he was blood.
Blood demanded blood in return.
It was a law older than time. Older than that was the matriarch of his family, Kirrat. Anyone who thought the representatives hard-faced had never had the misfortune of meeting Harkkat’s great-grandmother. His holo pinged around the clock with missed calls and messages demanding what he was doing to avenge his cousin’s death.
Harkkat slammed the door to his personal quarters behind him.
What could he do out here on Red Rock without getting hauled in front of the council? It wasn’t like he had a fleet of battleships to send out.
There had to be a way around this that didn’t end with him spending the rest of his days breaking rocks, which he knew was the most probable outcome of his actions being revealed. The council was unlikely to take mercy on his predicament and decide against a term of hard labor.
Harkkat shuddered, his anger at being caught between a rock and a hard place twisting his face. He was a thinker. His life had been about developing his mind and a network of favors owed, not so much his body. “Maybe I don’t have a fleet of battlecruisers on hand,” he murmured. “Doesn’t mean I can’t borrow one.”
He crossed to his desk and slipped into his chair, his fingers on the keys before his abundant ass touched the leather. It was an effort to fix an appropriate expression, but he reined in his anger until it was no longer present on his face. He nodded respectfully when the connection solidified. “Representative Trugak. I have sad news regarding our venture. Glureg’s ship has been destroyed.”
The representative flashed his tusks at Harkkat. “The grief is yours, I believe. My condolences, Secretary. Glureg’s death was a loss for all Leath.”
Harkkat bowed his head. “Indeed. I’m sure you are aware that it is not within my power to take action without your investment becoming Federation knowledge.”
Trugak leaned toward the screen, his eyes narrowing. “That sounds remarkably like a threat, Harkkat.”
Harkkat put a hand to his chest. “I don’t know how you could take it as such when I’m advising in your best interest, Representative. I have seen the diligence of the Federation interplanetary fraud department firsthand. Believe me when I say it would be in the best interests of several of our ‘friends’ if we keep this whole situation quiet.”
Trugak glared at him. “Then why are you calling?”
“To get ahead on our next move.” Harkkat tapped at his keyboard to send the initial constituent analysis report he’d received from Glureg before the attack. “I expect you will want to get a larger operation underway as soon as possible. I plan to send an investigative team to accompany them and find out the party responsible for Glureg’s death.”
The representative blinked as he read through the data. “Am I reading this correctly?”
Harkkat nodded. “You are. There’s enough dysprosium in that system to break the choke chain the Safras group have on the manufacturers. Glureg’s sacrifice doesn’t have to be in vain.”
Trugak’s eyes told Harkkat he’d gotten his way before the representative opened his mouth to speak. “Leave it with me.”
Devon, The Hexagon, Hangar
“Missed them. Again.” Tabitha slammed her hand into the damaged panel, which promptly fell off and landed on her toe. “Sonofa— Add injury to insult. Why not?”
“I’m telling you, we have space rats,” Ashur declared for the fourth time in thirty minutes. “What else could want to take parts of the building? It’s rats, and they’re building a great big ratty nest somewhere.”
“Then where are these ‘space rats?’” Tabitha demanded. She deflated at the wounded look Ashur gave her. “Sorry, buddy. This is getting to me. We’ve searched every inch of this level, and found nothing but missing parts and Bobcat’s beer stash.”
Ashur dipped his head in a doggy shrug and turned to look around them. “Where do we search next?”
Tabitha didn’t have the foggiest idea. She wished for a moment that Achronyx were here instead of patrolling the Interdiction for Ooken. “Starting in the middle of the building probably wasn’t the smartest. I guess…down, and work our way up?” She set off at a sprint for the hidden elevator that would take them down to Eve’s domain.
Ashur ran to keep up, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as he panted to keep cool. “How far down are you talking? Has Bethany Anne built another bunker? We all know how well that went down with Bellatrix the last time.”
Tabitha called the elevator, smirking at the memory of the canine matriarch flouncing out of the base, her pups and grandpups following with their tails down. “Wayyy down. We’re going to check on the Vid-doc vault before we get back to the search.”
Ashur followed Tabitha into the elevator and sat by her feet, his tail curled around him. “This is where Bethany Anne is hiding the twins?”
Tabitha nodded, her attention on giving DNA to get access to the vault level. “Yeah, it was Sabine’s weapons cache until Bethany Anne had the Vid-docs installed down here for the twins, Trey, and K’aia. Eve has her lab on the level above. It’s the safest place they could be.”
Ashur sniffed, lifting his nose. “Unless the space rats get down there.”
“They’d be deep-fried space rats if they did,” Tabitha told him as the elevator came to a smooth stop. “There’s a nano-curtain around the vault. Any DNA not on the approved list gets broken down to dust.”
The doors opened, and Ashur whined when the change in air pressure was accompanied by a sharp, grinding buzz in his brain. “What’s that? It hurts!”
Tabitha petted his neck in sympathy. “You can hear it, huh? I guess the nanocytes are putting out a frequency you don’t like. You have to stay here anyway, buddy. You weren’t here in time to get log
ged into the system. I won’t be long.”
Ashur dropped to the floor of the car and clamped his front paws over his ears. “Not a problem.” He moved his paws to cover his eyes from the flash of light that went off when Tabitha stepped out of the elevator.
“Did you just get zapped?” he called uncertainly.
Tabitha laughed at the sight of Ashur with his head hidden under his front legs. “Open your eyes, you silly dog. It’s just the identification scan. See? I’m fine.”
Ashur raised his head, glad Bethany Anne hadn’t been there to see him behaving like a common cat. “What happens if you’re not authorized?”
Tabitha mimed an explosion with her hands, then wiggled her fingers to simulate a slow rain. “Wouldn’t recommend it. Okay, the vault is about to open, and you won’t be able to see or hear me again until I get out.”
Ashur put his head back down while Tabitha went into the vault.
She returned a few minutes later, smelling somewhat relieved to Ashur. He chuffed with some relief of his own once the elevator door had shut out the angry, high-pitched buzzing in the corridor beyond. “What did you find?”
Tabitha grinned and scratched Ashur’s ears. “The vault is secure. Take us up one level, Winstanley.”
The doors opened on a sterile white corridor a few moments later.
Tabitha strode out with purpose, then paused and turned to look back over her shoulder when she failed to hear the click of Ashur’s claws on the tiled floor. “This level doesn’t have any defenses that can hurt you. It’s only high-security. See? Good old-fashioned Guardians.”
Ashur looked away. “I don’t know. That last level hurt my brain.”
Tabitha tilted her head and smiled at Ashur. “C’mon, it’s safe. This is Eve’s lab. I’m not going to go in without you.”
Ashur’s ears went flat against his skull as he left the elevator. “Fiiiine. This doesn’t look at all like the opening of every scene in a horror movie. What’s that alien smell?”
Tabitha snickered, her hand dropping to Ashur’s neck as they walked. “I told you, this is Eve's lab. There are some Collectives here. Tina is on the team working on communications with them. Remember her?”
Ashur looked up at Tabitha and raised an eyebrow he didn’t technically have. “You are joking, right? Tina is one of those humans who always has a bite of something in her pocket. My Devi trained her well. Why is she not on R2D2?”
Tabitha felt satisfied she’d diverted Ashur's nerves. “The aliens, the Collective? They can’t talk to regular people.”
“Like humans?” Ashur asked.
“No,” Tabitha clarified. “All people. I wasn’t categorizing by species. The issue is something to do with enhancement, I think? You’d have to ask Eve.”
Ashur’s tail went up a little. “Okay. But if I see anyone who looks like they might be a zombie or a serial killer in disguise, I’m biting them.”
Tabitha laughed, her eyes crinkling in pleasure. “Mm-hmm? What are you going to do after you’ve bitten them and you’re overcome with the urge to eat…braiiiiinssss?”
Ashur barked and jumped at Tabitha as she came at him with her arms outstretched. “I’ll ask them why they make such ridiculous faces at their dinners instead of tackling them.”
Tabitha rolled him into a hug, then got to her feet. “I forgot how great it is having a dog around. Let’s go this way—and keep your nose peeled for our space rats.” She led Ashur through the corridors, heading for the no-ox habitat, where she suspected Eve and Tina would be found.
Ashur padded beside her, his nose sweeping left to right as they walked into the long, wide chamber at the end of the corridor.
He stared for a moment at the tank wall running down one side of the room, then glanced around at blinking, whirring servers along the other wall, and the various techs, scientists, and research assistants. He recognized many of them from Jean’s lab.
“Pretty amazing, huh?” Tabitha asked. “All that water is piped in from City-on-the-Lakes.”
“I can’t smell anything but the Collective,” Ashur admitted. His tail sprang into action when a strange whisper brushed his mind. “I can hear them, too. I want to see one once I’ve looked around.”
“Go do your thing.” Tabitha pointed at a workstation. “I’m gonna be right over there with Eve.” She watched him start his inspection of the room’s boundary before heading over to the tank wall.
Eve held up a finger as Tabitha approached, her eyes flicking rapidly as she typed one-handed into a holointerface on the glass wall.
Tabitha grinned and stepped back to get a full view of the world under the water. Who’s the AI down here? she asked in the mindspace, her eyes on the gently rippling kelp forest.
>>That would be me,<< ADAM replied. >>What are you and Ashur doing down here? Is there something going on that I should know about?<<
Tabitha rolled her eyes at the nearest camera and spoke aloud for Eve’s benefit. “Looking for space rats, according to Ashur.” She shrugged at Eve’s blank look. “Well, something got brought back from the Kurtherian factory. I don’t know, maybe Ashur’s theory isn’t crazy. I can’t think of anything else to explain a creature that is smart enough to disable cameras but has no apparent goal except random destruction.”
ADAM accessed the investigation records Tabitha had filed with network command. >>I have to agree, there is a mystery here.<<
Tabitha spread her hands. “Exactly, and I’m going to solve it before Bethany Anne gets home—even if I have to search every inch of the Hexagon to find the answer. Has there been any inexplicable damage in the lab?”
Eve joined Tabitha at the tank wall, her lips drawn together in a tight line. “Not even a speck of dust gets into this lab without me knowing about it.”
Tabitha wrinkled her nose and sighed. “Figured as much. What about your security system? Has it picked up anything weird? Any detail could help me find out where the nibblers are hiding before they make a snack out of the wrong cable and blow us all to pieces.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Eve assured her. “There are too many redundancies built into the Hexagon.”
Ashur chuffed from behind Tabitha, making her jump. “Tina says there were weird noises when she moved into her apartment.”
Tabitha caught Tina’s attention and waved her over to the glass wall. “What kind of weird noises?” she asked. “Like, in the walls?”
Tina came over, her arms folded. “Yeah. It was just the one time, the first night I was there.”
Tabitha’s eyes went wide. “Hell no, for real? Were you spooked?”
Tina fixed Tabitha with an incredulous look. “Uh, yeah! Wouldn’t you be on your first night alone on a strange planet?” She waved a hand. “I had Winstanley check for critters. He didn’t find anything, and I didn’t hear anything after that.”
Tabitha felt a spark of hope despite the thin lead. “But you definitely heard something, right? Where are you staying?”
Tina fished around in her pocket for a key card, which she handed to Tabitha. “I’m in apartment fourteen. Take a look around if it helps, but I don’t think you’ll find anything.”
Tabitha stuffed the card into her inside jacket pocket. “Thanks. We should think about upping security on the vault, too.”
Eve looked distant a moment. “Better to be safe than sorry. The families of my staff are staying in the apartments. Will you check on them?”
Tabitha grinned. “Sure thing. Ashur, you good? We need to get going.”
Ashur didn’t reply. He sat staring at the kelp behind the glass wall, his head tilted and his ears pricked.
Eve knelt beside him and wrapped an arm around his neck. “You can hear them, can’t you?”
Ashur nodded and tucked his head into Eve’s shoulder. “They’re sad. Angry. They miss their home and their family. They love Bethany Anne.”
Eve let go to look into Ashur’s eyes. “You are ‘hearing’ their emotions?”
A
shur chuffed. “Well, yeah. They don’t speak like humans. You can’t?”
“No,” Eve told him. She tilted her head in curiosity. “Will you stay? This could be the breakthrough we’re looking for.”
Ashur looked at the tank, then at Tabitha, torn. “I want to. But…space rats…”
Tabitha shrugged, glancing at her wrist holo. “We can take a break if you want to stay. I need to pick up Todd soon anyway. My boy’s gonna start thinking he’s a Noel-ni, he’s spent that much time with Ricole this last few days.” She handed Tina’s keycard back. “We can pick this up tomorrow.”
“Great!” Eve declared, getting to her feet in one smooth motion. “I’ll be back shortly. There’s some equipment I need to find.”
She glided away with Tina following, and Tabitha dashed off in the opposite direction.
Ashur looked in both directions, then rolled his eyes. “Sure, make the choice for me. I’ll just sit and wait like a good dog, shall I?” He felt amusement from behind the glass. “I don’t know what you’re laughing at,” he complained. “Clearly you don’t know what it feels like to be abandoned mid-hunt.”
Canine.
Ashur yipped at the intrusion in his mental space. You can talk?
We are able to communicate, yes. In this case, we are sending visual and sensory information that your species is able to interpret as language.
Ashur tipped his head. Then why are you not talking to Eve?
A sigh echoed through Ashur’s mind.
The android cannot hear us. We are able to connect with enhanced humans, but otherwise, we are cut off unless CEREBRO translates for us.
Ashur could appreciate the difficulty. Eve is working to make it so you can talk to whoever, right? She thinks I can help. Eve never fails once she sets her heart on it.
The android has a heart? We understand that to be an organic component.
Ashur snorted. He made a few circles, then settled down to an unobstructed view of the water. Language. It’s tricky. You’ll get it. Eve has free will. That’s how we know she’s an AI, she can choose her path. This is her heart—the desire to help you integrate.
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