“What? Oh yes, very nice, but I already told her that.”
“Yeah, right after he teleported into my room unannounced,” Miranda's calm jibe felt like a blow to Ben's ribs, or at least his pride.
“Yeah, like you never teleported anywhere by mistake,” Tina grunted, flipping through pages of text on her pop-pad.
Ben felt Miranda eye him, and turn away. “So what do you think Daniel wants?” Miranda finally asked.
“Daniel?” Tina put the pad back down.
Ben grimaced, “Yeah, he messaged me, asking if I would pick you two up for a pre-meeting meeting outside of Angela's office at nine.”
“What in the heck would he want? I can't think of anything, except maybe a pre-meeting just ignore Miss Cranky speech. That wouldn't take an hour, he could just lie in wait and give it on the way in the door,” Tina glanced at her pad, “It's an hour and a quarter till then, but I can't get anything done with that kind of mystery hanging in the air.” Tina rose and shoved past Miranda to the clinic transport booth. “You two just going to stand there and glare at one another or are you going to come find out what's up?” Ben followed Miranda sheepishly. They brushed past each other on the way in, and Ben felt a telepathic wall around her that hung like a cold shoulder. “Spot, I want to talk to Daniel. Take us there.”
The motionless motion felt cold hard and metallic. It didn't feel as comfortably natural to Ben as his recent forays into self teleportation, more like shoving three square pegs through round holes that were two sizes too small. When they arrived on the catwalk above the fake city street, Ben looked over to see Miranda shiver. Tina cleared her throat and tapped her remote pin. “Spot, I said Daniel.”
“He is within the apartment directly in front of you, I couldn't just put you inside. It isn't yours,” Spot's voice sounded like a male version of Bea's.
“Thanks Spot.” Tina stepped up to the door and knocked.
They waited a while, finally the door opened to a slit just wide enough to allow Daniel's head through. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“What exactly is your little pre-meeting meeting all about?” Tina barged up to Daniel and tried to peek inside.
“I guess there's no point in waiting.” Daniel hit what Ben could only assume was the door pad, and the door slid open all the way revealing a room almost identical to the living room of Ben's old apartment on Earth. “I was going to surprise you, but since you're here you can feed your fish yourself.” Daniel waved them all into the room.
Upon entry, Ben recognized his furniture, books and everything else. The layout was identical. The only real difference from his apartment on Earth was the lack of doorknobs, which had been replaced with door pads built into the doors. Ben sat on his couch and looked around. Everything was exactly how he had left it; if not on the planet where it had been left.
“Well,” Daniel asked.
“Just like home, but what if I had decided not to stay?”
Daniel smiled, “I really didn't think that was likely, but it would've been cool. I only just brought it all out of stasis this morning. I could've put it back in your apartment with equal ease. It's all here with the exception of your plants. Erin liked them, and they were obviously neglected.”
Ben shrugged and went to his fish tank on the kitchen window sill. His view was marvelous. In the place of the street scene from his Earth apartment Ben found a view of a well manicured garden courtyard the size of a couple square blocks. It was bound on all four sides by the rear faces of houses, packed tightly together so there was no space between them.
“Nice view of the back yard, ain't it.” Daniel asked sneaking up on Ben.
“That's really there?”
“Heck yeah. Now I know you want to hang here, but I've got a couple more surprises to pass out,” Daniel nodded his head towards Miranda and Tina who stood respectfully near the door. Daniel dropped his voice to a whisper, “You want to see the looks on their faces?”
“Sure.” Ben pried himself away from the view and sprinkled a little food for the fish before following Daniel.
Daniel clapped his hands together loudly, “Now ladies as impressive as this is I'm not done yet. If you'll follow me next door, I'll show you Miranda's quarters.” Tina cooed with delight and Miranda's face reflected confusion. Ben liked the way her nose wrinkled slightly.
Daniel pushed past Miranda and Tina, tapping the pad to open the door to the right. The door opened on a loft style great room, with just a few functional pieces of furniture and stairs leading to bedroom and bath. Ben clearly made out the kitchenette, equipped with both cooking appliances and a food processor of the Sanctuary type. Miranda stepped inside slowly with eyes almost the size of tea saucers. She was drawn to the picture window view out on the courtyard, and to the shelves, and hanging planters filled with plants and purple flowers the likes of which Ben had never seen.
“They're lovely. From Relevar?” Miranda spun to ask.
“Yeah, Ellen said you'd like them,” Daniel replied.
“Busy girl that Ellen,” Miranda mumbled cryptically.
Daniel shrugged her off and took a few more paces to the next door. He keyed it open to reveal another empty living space with a small functional kitchenette to one side, “And these are yours Tina.”
Tina threw up her palms in protest, “My quarters? I can't have quarters already! My mom will never let me move out.”
“I've already spoken with your mother. She knows you're right across the square, and that your new responsibilities deserve new privileges. Plus I played the midnight emergency card. How many times did she really want to be woken from a sound sleep because Gene needed you?” Daniel smiled. Tina slipped off her shoes to run barefoot through the carpet. She spun around and tumbled into a pile of giggles on the floor of her own home.
“I thought Angela was going to talk to her,” Ben objected.
Daniel smiled, “I'm the diplomat she's the bureaucrat. I've found both don't work well in the same body. Our relationship works well, and problems get solved.”
“Speaking of problems, I don't know if Miranda and I will work out. I accidentally teleported in on her this morning and I don't think she likes me much.”
Daniel laughed out loud, “Don't be silly Ben. Of course she likes you. You rescued her from a dark prison camp, and if she didn't like you she wouldn't have saved your butt twice.”
Bea's remote blipped and Angela's voice came out, “Angela here, Ben can we move up the meeting.”
“Sure can honey,” Daniel answered for Ben.
“Daniel?” Angela's voice came out surprised.
“Yeah honey, they set upon my surprise early. Tina led the charge,” Daniel said with a smile, “We'll gather the troops and meet you in your office.”
“No, join me in the emergency situation room.”
“Got it.” Daniel said. Bea's remote blipped off. “Let's get the girls.” Daniel stepped into Tina's apartment, leaving Ben to go after Miranda.
At first Ben hesitated then he gritted his teeth and went. He stepped through her still open door clearing his throat. She stood at her picture window smelling the purple flowers. “Excuse me, Miranda, but Angela wants to meet with us now.” Ben watched her stiffen at the sound of his voice.
Miranda turned formally to face him, “Okay, but first what exactly is it she wants from us?”
“She wants us to find a girl the dark had raped, and impregnated. She and her child weren't among the girls rescued from the scene. I'm not sure how Angela found out about her.”
“So we're just looking for a girl?” Miranda stepped up to within feet of Ben.
“No we're also gathering bread crumbs, to figure out what the dark is up to,” Ben answered; he felt Daniel behind him.
“Let's go,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, no point making Ms. Cranky any crankier than necessary,” Tina added.
“I've got Tina, I'll meet you there,” Daniel said just a moment before he and Tina disappeared.
At first Ben was confused, then it occurred to Ben what Daniel meant, but not as fast as it occurred to Miranda. ASee you there,” Miranda disappeared.
Ben focused on Daniel, it took a second but then he was there. One entire wall of the room was a large video display. A sliver of the right side of the screen was sectioned into eight to ten different line graphs which moved like heart rate monitors. Most of the graphs had begun nose dives for the bottom of their scales. Even if that was all Ben had to go on he would have known whatever it was wasn't going well, but Ben also had the picture which took up the rest of the screen. The image of bodies piled on bodies piled on rubble sat frozen on the screen. At first Ben thought it was just a still photograph until a person wearing body armor crossed into frame. They carried a particle beam riffle resembling the one that had wounded Daniel. The person on the screen turned towards the camera and fired. The beam that came from the gun was purple.
“Great, they've figured out the radiation spectrum,” Angela growled. Ben spun to locate her she was sitting in an arm chair behind Ben, as were several other people. All of them had instrument panels and key pads swiveled in front of their seats and all of their eyes were riveted on the now blank screen. Angela shook her head and slammed her fist into a large red button her control panel, “All briaunti bail out they've tuned the spectrum. Everybody else grab 'em and get ‘em here quick before there isn't anybody left to rescue.”
The screen behind Ben lit up again, this time with a bird’s eye view of what was left of a minor city. Dots of varying colors moved over the rubble. After the image zoomed in on one of the purple dots, Ben figured out the dots represented people. One by one dots disappeared sometimes the purple ones disappeared in clumps. Shortly there were no purple dots and only a few whitish ones left.
Angela released an exhausted sigh, “Thanks folks, make sure enough people are stationed to run wrap up in room 52. Then hit the racks.” Daniel stepped into the room from a doorway, with Tina three steps behind, and Miranda appeared beside Ben.
“That bad honey?” Daniel asked wrapping his arms around Angela.
“Worse, we lost more than ninety percent. They just kept refining the spectrum. We couldn't get to the wounded in time. We even lost one of ours.” Angela nuzzled into Daniel's embrace, less stiff than Ben had ever seen her. Tina cleared her throat, and Angela stiffened, shoving Daniel away. “Right, time for our meeting.” Angela tapped three keys on the her control panel, swiveled it aside and rose from her chair. Several photographs came up on the big display screen.
“We've weeded through missing persons reports from during the target time period and we think girl twenty-two could be one of these girls. They all fit the apparent criteria used by the dark ones, and they still haven't been found, but we can't be sure. For all we know they bought girl twenty-two in the Sudan for thirty bucks and a case of scotch. Hopefully though she is one of those. That's the news all I've got. I don't know where to go from here.”
Ben stared at the faces trying to imprint them on his brain. Beside him Miranda glanced at them briefly and looked back to Angela. Daniel sat in the chair Angela had vacated and leaned back, “I think they should start where we left off. We didn't manage a thorough search of that prison world.” At Daniel's suggestion Ben noticed Miranda's eyes wandered off towards the ceiling.
“I don't know about that,” Ben quickly replied, “I mean they aren't so inefficient as to keep the girl there once their security has been breached.”
“True, but that's where your last bread crumb lies. If you really want to find your next, I think it makes sense to sniff around the last one,” Tina offered.
“It's just too bad we can't hack into their system and find out where the girl is,” Daniel mused running his fingertips over the control panel.
Ben was looking his way but saw Miranda shudder out of the corner of his eye. “We could,” Miranda said softly.
“What?” Angela sputtered, “How?”
“I said we could, sort of get into their system from the inside. I've got a couple one size really does fit everybody uniforms, and I think I could fool the palm-print key pads, and since you have artificial teleportation devices I think I could even get us into and out of the main compound. I'm not sure where they would keep that kind of information, but we could probably find it,” Miranda said in a pale yet methodical voice.
“Out of the question!” Angela and Daniel exclaimed simultaneously. “I can't condone that kind of risk,” Angela continued alone.
“But the risk of hitting the same prison camp twice is acceptable,” Ben thought to Angela. Angela's face turned scarlet and her lips drew into a tight pout. Ben felt a twinkle of support from Miranda's general direction. “I thought we were the ones sticking our butts into the line of fire on this anyway.”
“It's too dangerous, we can't afford to risk you two like that,” Angela countered.
“That's okay, I can do it by myself. My dumb idea, my resources, my risks, all of them to solve your problem,” Miranda snapped.
“Except you, no, we'll find some other way,” Angela said with total finality.
Miranda closed her mouth and Ben could feel her withdrawing from the discussion. “So where does that leave us to start?”
Angela threw up her hands, “Random sampling I guess. Pop about to a few worlds see what turns up, or we could go with the first plan.”
“So that's all you've got? I think that means this meeting is over,” Ben searched out eye contact with Miranda, “How about a cup of coffee?”
“No, thanks, I'll just head to my quarters. Let me know when you want to get started.” Miranda neatly disappeared without extending her good bye to Angela or Daniel.
“Yep, meeting's adjourned,” Tina said with a sour face aimed at Ben. Then she turned back through the doorway. Ben remained just long enough to catch the brunt of Angela's worried disgust then he teleported back to his new quarters.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chapter 17
Fine! Be That Way!
-----------------------------------
Miranda materialized in her isolation room, the towel still lay where she'd left it, across the bathroom threshold. The lights were still the at the comfortably dim fifty percent setting, soothing her eyes. Miranda rubbed at her eyebrows trying to drive away the headache forming behind her eyes. When she lowered her hands, she noticed they were trembling. How desperate was she not to go back to the place they'd rescued her from?
Miranda knew she had to be really desperate, to have suggested a frontal assault on the main dark compound in its own separate fold-space. She'd only barely escaped from there, why would she even suggest going back? Simple, she had escaped on her own. She hadn't needed a rescuer. Maybe the weakness of needing Ben to rescue her was why Miranda couldn't manage to do anything but fumble around him. Then again, maybe it was that old mystery, love.
Spontaneously Miranda swooped up the towel and tossed it into a hatch labeled laundry. Then she gathered the wrappings from her clothes and put them back in the delivery cupboard. Then she made the bed. Habit set Miranda's eyes surveying the room for any signs of her occupancy, for any clues as to her presence. She caught herself. Here, if they had told her the truth, there would be no pursers to analyze every fragmented clue. As a test Miranda did a belly flop onto the bed and rolled around mussing the sheets, unexpectedly she found herself giggling. At first it was a silly giggle but somehow it became a frantic terrified giggle, then tears that brought her back around to the truth she felt in her gut. They needed to go back to where she'd been held, and not just to find the girl.
Miranda sat up pulling the blanket up around her shoulders as she did. She looked at Tina's chair and half whimsically wondered if they'd let her take it with her to her new quarters. Mysteriously the door chose that moment to slide open. Gene stood on the other side. Miranda wiped her tears from her face, and smoothed the blanket back onto the bed.
“Yo
u don't have to clean up, you can just go on ahead to your quarters, as soon as you are ready. I mean you can stay here as long as you need to, to feel comfortable,” Gene said stepping slowly into the room. She felt his eye fixed on her cheeks and the damp corner of the blanket.
“I wasn't crying,” Miranda found herself lying.
Gene nodded, “Of course not.”
“I was.”
“I know, it happens,” Gene sat down in Tina's chair facing Miranda. “Need to talk?”
“I don't want to go back to that place,” Gene nodded saying nothing to stop Miranda or to argue with her, “but Daniel thinks we should, to find clues to find the girl. I know that we should...”
“And that scares you. It's okay. You don't have to go on that mission, I can ask Angela to have Daniel go with Ben.”
Miranda grasped at that idea, and felt it slip. Her gut told her that it wasn't just that somebody should go; she needed to go. “No, I need to.”
Gene leaned back in the chair. “Okay, so what can you do that will make it safer for you?”
Miranda ground her mental gears, trying to answer him. Her hands sat limply in her lap and Miranda stared down at them and at the flowers. She remembered her bag, and the uniform in it. Her plan to assault the main dark base might have been a foolhardy attempt to avoid the issue, but it had elements which could work. She could remember clearly the palm-prints of the men who had taken her out of the tank. They had been stationed at that camp and their prints probably wouldn't have worked any better than her own at the main compound.
“I could get some equipment I have hidden, a couple of uniforms. They might stave off detection.”
“Good, what else?” Gene leaned forward.
“Not having to hurry. I need a little more time,” Miranda finally answered, after picking at one of the flowers on her dress for an extended period.
“That's easy, time is flexible. Don't let Angela infect you with a sense of its inflexibility,” Like this morning, my staff is only mortal, we can only handle so much at once. So when the patients started piling up around us we started diverting them to when we could handle it. Tomorrow we'll weed through them some more, and the next day, until we've gotten to them all. It's an inconvenient juggle for someone, but it means each patient will get proper well-rested help.”
Eyes Love & Water Page 28