Strike Vector - An Aeon 14 Space Opera Adventure (Perilous Alliance Book 2)
Page 10
An indicator flashed on her holodisplay: a new message from Peter Rhoads had come in. Speaking of a new controversy….
She reached her finger into the display and tapped the icon. Somehow, using her mind to play a message from Peter Rhoads felt sacrilegious. A moment later he appeared before her. Even though it was not a two-way conversation, something about the warmth of his smile made her lips turn up as well.
“Governor Yovette.” He bowed at the waist as was his custom. “I hope this message finds you and the people of Hubei well. I’m en route to the Hanoi System to speak with several of the other leaders in the system. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to drop in and visit. To see if you and your parliament have had time to go through my proposals and have made a decision.”
A decision.
Peter Rhoads had passed through the Hanoi system several times over the past few decades. Several of the habitats and worlds in the system had already joined his Grand Collective, as he called it.
Peter had made some good points about AI and technology—about how integrated they had become. Many of the people on Hubei were in agreement with his belief that humans knew too little about how to manage their own lives, let alone their civilization. It was one of the reasons the people of Hubei were learning how to manage their own food supply again—even though it had been problematic to say the least.
But an impending AI war? Yovette didn’t see the connection between overreliance and an Orion-spanning war. The AI had no reason to make war on humans, not that she knew of.
Samson had never been anything but polite and supportive to Yovette. He helped her, and quite honestly, ensured that she didn’t lose her mind on a daily basis.
Still, if he ever decided to turn on her, would Yovette even be able to stop him?
The thought circled in Yovette’s mind and she decided to ask him outright.
Samson chuckled.
That’s right! How had Yovette forgotten?
Samson’s mental avatar smiled.
Yovette paused and wondered for a brief moment if Samson had just been telling her what she wanted to hear. If he was, could she really hold it against him? Peter Rhoads wanted her to get rid of mentally integrated technology and AIs across Hubei. Which was a hot topic on everyone’s lips of late.
While many had seen the wisdom in re-establishing a closer connection to the underpinnings of civilization, few were of the opinion that AIs should be exiled, or that mentally Linked technology was a problem.
To think of a life without the Link…it felt barbaric. Yovette wanted everyone to live as they wished, but she also wanted to make colony life easier.
Yovette groaned and ran her hand over her hair. As if she wasn’t busy enough. She didn’t have time for this.
* * * * *
“Let’s go, come on!” Fen whispered as she ducked under the fence surrounding her elementary school. She slipped under with a laugh, her friends Maggie and Su Wan chasing after.
The school was on the edge of the ever-growing Canton City, and beyond the fence were the talk green stalks of a farmer’s wheat field. She heard the fence jingle as Maggie and Su Wan passed under it, and picked up her pace.
The three girls had slipped out often during recess, exploring the fields and the automated equipment that managed it. That was how they had found the tunnels.
In the middle of the field rose a steel column with some lights and antennas on its top. The girls had all known that it was a Link signal repeater for the farm equipment, but what they hadn’t known was that it also sat atop a tunnel system.
She reached the entrance to the tunnels first, unlatched the round door and pulled it aside. Fen had heard that tunnels like this were used to move seed from the harvesters, or fertilizer in the springs, but every time they had checked, the tunnels were empty and dry.
As she scampered in, crawling on all fours like Chichi, their dog, she remembered the words she had overheard as her principal and teacher had talked in the hall.
“OK, then I’ll call Fen’s parents before lunch to discuss her issues with math.”
Parents. Parents meant Daddy and Momma. Fen didn’t want Mommy to know about her tests and how she had been struggling. She was busy enough, and didn’t need Fen’s trouble messing up her life.
So, Fen crawled ahead as fast as she could, desperate to get away from the anxiety and fear mounting inside her. She hurried so fast she barely heard her friends calling out to her as they entered the tunnel.
“Fen, don’t go so far! We only have twenty minutes for recess. We have to head back,” Maggie said.
Maggie, Little Miss Perfect that she was, wouldn’t understand what Fen was feeling. She never did anything wrong. She never failed a test in her life. She wasn’t a bad student like Fen was.
Fen shone the light from her wrist-comm to see where she was going, but thick tears had formed in her eyes and blurred her vision. She came to a cross roads, turned left, and kept going.
“Fen!” Su Wan grabbed her foot and Fen’s loafer slipped right off. “You’re going to get in trouble and then you’re not going to get to the New Year’s parade! Please, come back!”
Fen just sniffled her tears and kept going. “I’ll be there soon. Just leave me alone.”
“Fen! Stop! Where are you going?” Maggie screamed but Fen ignored her and then the sounds of pursuit ceased. Fen waited a moment and she could hear the sounds of the other girls growing fainter behind her.
They must be turning back.
Good. Fen felt a pang of guilt for abandoning her friends. It formed like a rock in the center of her chest. The rock turned into a sob and the sob into so much sadness that her heart felt like it had cracked and was now bleeding tears which streamed down her face.
Fen started moving again. She didn’t look at her wrist-comm to see the time. She didn’t want to know if she was late. Eventually the tears stopped and Fen sat still, enjoying the quiet. After a few minutes she felt better, and then rather foolish for trying to get away from her friends.
Carefully, Fen turned around in the tube even though there was little room to comfortably do so in the tunnel’s narrow confines. She started back to the entrance, but was in no rush to get there. A check on her wrist-comm told her that she was going to be late. If that was the case, why hurry back just to get in trouble?
She was already in trouble so what was a little bit more? She hoped Daddy could convince Momma to still let her go to the parade. She loved the parade more than anything and that’s where she wanted to be.
Crawling through the tunnels was exhausting, and Fen was growing tired as she came to a turn she didn’t recognize. But since it was the only turn, she kept going. She probably hadn’t been paying very close attention because of all her crying. Maybe that hadn’t been very smart.
It would do no good to panic, that’s what Daddy had said when he’d taught her to hoverblade, and ride a two-wheeled bike. Fen thought of his calming words, took a deep breath, ignored her pounding heart and kept going.
Then the tube split in two directions. Two.
Fen had never seen
a split like this before. She remembered the four-way split, but she had always turned back at that point. She had never made it this far before. Did she turn left, or did she turn right?
She didn’t know. Oh, by the stars, she was lost! Fen knew she had to pick a direction and see if it would lead her back to the four-way split. Fen picked left and hurried, picking up the pace, ignoring the increasing pain in her knees, hoping that she would come to the four-way split soon.
Fen had been going straight for too long. She knew it. She had gone the wrong way. She turned back around. Don’t panic, don’t panic, she told herself, but big tears slid down her face and she couldn’t breathe. Why couldn’t she breathe?
Her chest rose and fell as she sobbed and slowly turned around to head back to the two-way split.
“Fen?” Miss Rose, called over her wrist-comm. “Where are you? Fen?”
Fen pushed the button to respond. “I’m lost!” Fen choked on her sobs. “Help me, please!”
Miss Rose’s voice sounded calm, but Fen could hear the fear in it as well. “Tell me where you are, honey. We’ll come get you, I promise.”
“I’m going to be in so much trouble, Miss Rose.” Fen was back at two-way split in the tube but which way? Fen couldn’t remember which way she had come from, and which way would lead her back out to the tube’s exit.
Oh stars, she was never going to get out of there. She was going to die in there.
“No honey,” Miss Rose said gently. “No one is going to be mad. I promise, we just want you safe. Please tell me—”
“Momma will be mad. She’ll be upset! Just like about my math test.” Just thinking about it made Fen cry. “I don’t know which way to go, I’m lost! I’m so lost!”
“Where? Tell me what you see, Fen?” The amount of worry in Miss Rose’s voice was increasing. Fen didn’t like it. It made her feel even worse. Was she in danger? Was that why Miss Rose sounded like that.
“In the tunnels. Outside the fence, in the field.”
“A tunnel? Fen, are you in the underground tube? Are you in the tubes, Fen?”
Miss Rose sounded really scared now and Fen didn’t know why. She had been in the tunnels a dozen times and nothing bad had ever happened. Why would Miss Rose be so scared?
Fen bit her lip as a rush of air passed her. It smelled dusty and like chemicals.
“Help!” Fen screamed as she turned and crawled away from the moving air, and down the pipe where water lay in a puddle. Suddenly something grabbed at her and she couldn’t move forward. She pulled again, but couldn’t move.
Terrified, Fen turned to find out what was holding onto her. Her sweater was stuck on the edge of a coupling, and she cried out in relief. She tried to pull free, but got tangled up, and began to flail and wrestle her way out of it.
She finally managed to pull her arm out but the effort caused her to slip on the wet tunnel floor and she fell, smashing wrist against the pipe. There was a sharp noise and she held up her wrist-comm.
The screen was cracked and it was wet. She tapped frantically at the buttons, but no sound came from the device. Then its light faded, and darkness closed in around her.
She cradled it against her chest. “Miss Rose, help me! Please!”
ALONE
STELLAR DATE: 09.18.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Dauntless, location unknown
REGION: Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
When Kylie awoke, her head felt like it was spinning, and an overwhelming sense of sickness permeated her body. Kylie blinked and was assaulted by a keen awareness of even the simplest of things: her breathing, her heartbeat, and even how the seconds were ticking by in her empty room.
Empty, she was alone.
Kylie had a distinct memory of Lana and Rogers being present at some point, but now there was no sign of them.
Forcing herself to sit up brought a fresh wave of dizziness crashing down on her. Kylie braved it, and stretched out her limbs. Holding up her right leg she was relieved to see it stay perfectly still in the air. While earlier her legs had throbbed with pain, now they felt only alive with strength.
Standing was relatively easy but walking proved to be more challenging. Kylie groaned as her legs gave out from beneath her. Stretching her hands out, she stumbled forward and caught herself on the bulkhead. Kylie wiped her mouth. Well, it seemed things were going to be challenging for a while.
Still, with everything happening so fast, it was at least nice and quiet. When was the last time she had been able to enjoy some peace and quiet…why exactly was everything so quiet?
Only the emergency lighting was active on the overhead. Kylie checked the ship’s status and saw that the main reactor was off too. They were just running on batteries while the secondary reactor powered the shields.
Well, that was something. At least the shields had been properly fixed while she was out.
She turned the corner and slammed right into the bulkhead.
Did someone move the wall? She thought as she felt her way around it.
That was almost a full day. A full day and Kylie had no idea what had transpired. Shit.
“Rogers!” Kylie screamed as she stumbled up the ramp onto the bridge. No one was present, but outside the stars were spinning around. Kylie closed her eyes and re-opened them to make sure it wasn’t just her. Nope. Still spinning.
There was a brighter spot spinning around, and Kylie focused on it wondering why it was getting larger.
“Shit, Marge. That’s a moon or something.”
“Looks like Pellen, a dwarf planet currently near the Trio jump point.”
Kylie pulled herself up into the pilot’s seat.
The seat rose up into the center of the spherical bridge, and Kylie’s entire vision was filled with spinning stars. She resisted the urge to vomit while examining the available options.
The fusion engines were offline, and it would take some time to bring them back up from a cold start. There was enough power in the SC Batts to get the graviton emitters for the attitude adjusters working, and Kylie powered them up, but the navigation system wouldn’t send commands to the emitters.
“What the…” Kylie muttered.
Kylie smiled. It was a Rogers special. He had done this once before to mess with her. However, she knew how to undo the reroute, and in a minute had the navigation system talking to the emitters and gradually slowed the ship’s spin. When their attitude was stable, she pointed a negative graviton stream at Pellen. Not a large thrust, but enough to keep them from falling into its gravity well.
Kylie sighed and lowered the ship’s rear shields. They were moving at a pretty good clip and she didn’t want some stray rock to ruin her day more than it had already been.
Kylie slipped gingerly from the pilot’s chair and landed on the deck feet first—a win in her book. Her legs seemed to be behaving better and she walked as quickly as she dared toward the medbay.
Just as she feared, the door was open, and the table on which Grayson had been strapped down now lay empty.
And the ship was still deafeningly silent.
Had Grayson done this to her ship? What had he done to the crew?
Why hadn’t he come to hurt her?
Marge said.
Kylie sprinted out of the medbay, momentarily surprised that she was capable of running. She cut across the ship and turned down the starboard corridor to see a shadow standing near the airlock.
The figure’s stance was unnatural, too straight, too symmetrical, but Kylie recognized the silhouette nonetheless.
“Jerrod! What have you done to them?”
“They’re sleeping but they’ll be all right. Thank you for correcting our course. Rogers had done quite a number on the navigation system.”
Kylie gingerly stepped forward. “Where’s Lana?”
“Safe. You’ll all be safe once we reach Trio. I’ve informed General Samuel of our location, and that we will be transitioning to the DL in a few hours.”
“The hell we are.” Kylie took another step and made a fist with her hand. She wished she had a weapon, but there wasn’t time to go back and get one. “If Lana’s safe, you wouldn’t be standing there.”
“She took me out once,” Grayson stepped out from the shadows and Kylie caught sight of his face, finally. It was set in stone. Entirely without emotion. He looked at her as though he didn’t even recognize her, his body reduced to nothing more than a shell.