Starshine

by G. S. Jennsen

  She found she had joined him in pacing, worrying at her lower lip while they crisscrossed the cabin. There was something ticking at the back of her mind….

  She grabbed his shoulder as they passed one another, her eyes lighting up. “You know what you and I, Volosk and EASC Headquarters have in common? The Metis report—” and darkening again “—but others have it, too. Dr. LaRose, for one.”

  “Well, what’s his status?”

  She queried the exanet and scanned the results. “No mention of an attack…hold on.” The scan had also picked up an unread message in her eVi…so she was a little behind in reading her messages. She had been shot.

  “I have a request from him for another hard copy of the data. It seems one of his researchers took the disk home—and never returned.”

  “To work?”

  “To anywhere.”

  A frown grew across his face, tugging his mouth downward. “Okay, that’s…suspicious.”

  The frown deepened into a full grimace. “But still, you were right before—a lot of people have seen the information. Director Delavasi, analysts and scientists on both sides, the rest of the EASC Board, probably our Director of Defense and Field Marshal. The secret’s out. And they didn’t try to kill LaRose—the report is simply missing.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not convinced it isn’t about the war. If there is a conspiracy, the conspirators would absolutely want to eliminate us before we exposed it. And Volosk had the assassination autopsy reports…is that what got him killed?” He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Is he dead because I pulled him into this mess?”

  “He’s dead because they’re bad guys. And while they haven’t tried to kill LaRose, what if they killed his researcher?”

  He nodded. “Right, the report. I wonder—”

  She was pacing rapidly now, any ache from her wounds forgotten and fire now animating her irises. “Not the report. The hard copy of the raw data. Others saw the report, but I only made four copies of the raw data: for us, EASC, LaRose and Volosk.”

  Her gaze shot up to meet his. “We missed something.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s something else in the data I captured. Something important.”

  He stared at her, slowly letting out a weighty breath. “Do you realize what you’re saying?”

  “That the aliens are already among us, or at least have agents working on their behalf? Yes, I do.”

  “Just making sure.”

  “Do you disagree?”

  He shrugged gamely. “No…I don’t believe I do. Because you know what? Last night wasn’t the first time on this mission someone’s tried to kill me. With everything that’s happened I had almost forgotten about it, but three merc ships attacked me on the way to Metis. That’s why I opened fire on you in the first place—I thought you were one of them.”

  She groaned. “And that’s what the job was about….”

  “What job?”

  “Right before I left for Metis, I was offered an absurd amount of money to go to work for the government overseeing the Alliance’s deep space exploration program. The Minister for Extra-Solar Development practically fell on his knees begging me to accept the post, and accept it immediately. I don’t see how anyone knew where I was headed, but it has to be related. Dammit, I knew something was up with that.” With a sigh she flopped down on the couch and opened an aural.

  He resumed a more leisurely pacing, and after a moment gave a wry laugh. “Are we actually saying there is both a conspiracy to foment war and a conspiracy to conceal the nature of the aliens? Stretches the limits of credulity a little far.”

  His eyes rolled at the ceiling. “Unless it’s all one conspiracy—they instigate a war to soften us up ahead of the invasion and ensure we’re so busy killing each other we’ll be unable to mount an effective response. Nope, that’s crazy. Right?”

  She glanced up distractedly. “Hell if I know. You’re the spy.” She had begun scrolling through the data files, looking for the answer. The reason.

  And with a blink it leapt out at her. In retrospect, it was blindingly obvious and she was a svoloch for missing it. “I found it.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Perhaps not all of it, but I found one rather important detail we missed. It’s the TLF wave. I pegged the terahertz as communications in part due to the way it permeated, spreading out across the area as if to blanket the ships. The TLF though….”

  She met his gaze. “It’s coming from the portal. More specifically, from the inside of the portal. See, here? The furthest the wave can be traced back to is the center of the portal, at which point it’s mid-waveform.”

  “Damn. But is it enough to kill over?”

  “For one thing, I’m not sure it’s necessarily a high threshold—see Exhibit A, the fleet of superdreadnoughts. For another, if it draws attention to the portal itself—and to whatever is on the other side of it—then to them it very well could be. Remember, nothing in the universe emits waves at so low a frequency. So the question becomes, what does?”

  She fixated on the aural as her fingertips drummed a staccato étude on her thigh. “There’s one way to find out.”

  “You want to go back to Metis? It’ll be risky.”

  “Not that risky. I’ll need a new dampener field module though. Ken can probably bring one to Romane and—”

  “Ken? Another ‘good friend’ of yours?”

  She returned his smirk in full. “Ken is a she and yes, albeit not in the way you’re implying.”

  He chuckled, but she saw the strain still pulling at the corners of his eyes and the edges of his mouth. “Okay. This is a good plan. I’m in.”

  Her voice dropped to a tentative whisper. “I’m glad…but I’m not certain you grasp the full extent of the ‘plan.’”

  An eyebrow rose. “And it would be?”

  “We’ll see what we find when we get to Metis, but…I expect to find answers we will need to go through the portal.”

  “Through the portal. Alex, I may be crazy, but you are insane.”

  She grinned hopefully. “Is that a problem?”

  He closed the distance between them and draped his arms over her shoulders. “No. In fact, it might be one reason I—” an odd light flickered across his eyes “—think you’re kind of amazing.”

  A tingle of dizzying pleasure raced down her spine to her toes. She kissed him softly. Languidly. For a moment the fact people were trying to kill them and they were now wanted fugitives didn’t matter so much.

  She sank deeper into his arms, letting him envelop her. “Maybe the key to clearing your name is on the other side of the portal.”

  He nodded against her lips. “Maybe the key to defeating those aliens is on the other side of the portal.”

  “Yeah, that too.”

  Richard. Mom.

  You need to understand Caleb did not do this. Irrespective of any moral, philosophical or political considerations, he was with me every second he wasn’t under military guard. It is a physical impossibility for him to have played any role whatsoever.

  Something else is going on here. Something far more sinister than a mere civil war or even a mere alien invasion. I plan to find out what it is.

  In the meantime, Richard, it would be awesome if you could clear his name (and mine). Someone deliberately framed him. If I know you, it should really rankle you. It also means this war truly IS a lie.

  Mom, do try to prevent the aliens from destroying Earth, and as many other worlds as is feasible, until we can return with answers.

  — Alex

  She sat cross-legged on the floor with her back against the couch. While Caleb reached out to whoever he could in search of any information—answers were too much to hope for—she cleared out the deluge of messages. Most of them she deleted without reply; many without reading. Not all of them, though.

  Alex,

  Love, have you gone and gotten yourself mixed up in this sodding war? Daft
idea, if you ask me—which of course you never have. Protect that lovely ass of yours and try not to die, please? The world would be a darker place without you in it.

  — Ethan

  She smiled to herself—as much at memories of a simpler time as at the message itself—and sent a quick reply.

  I’ll do what I can to not die. I make no promises regarding the state of my ass, however.

  And…thank you.

  — Alex

  When the backlog had finally been obliterated she sent a livecomm request.

  “Ken, you got a second?”

  “I’m just going to go ahead and assume this little unpleasantness is a small misunderstanding, or a frame job, or simply the fog of war. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, but it’s worse than you know. I need a favor.”

  “Always.”

  “I need you to bring a new dampener field module to Romane.”

  “What’s wrong with your current one?”

  “I blew it out running from the aliens. I didn’t tell you at dinner the other night?”

  “No, you neglected to mention it. I told you to watch the power spikes.”

  “I know, I know. I panicked. In fairness, I had good reason.”

  “True enough. When do you need it by?”

  “As soon as you can get it there. Yesterday should be fine.”

  “Right. I was leaving for Messium in the morning, but I can leave tonight and swing by Romane first.”

  “We’ll be at the Exia Spaceport, Bay D-24. You’re the best.”

  “I really am. I’ll get to meet him now, won’t I?”

  “Yes….”

  69

  ROMANE

  Independent Colony

  * * *

  Mia paced around the open space of the gallery office, prepping for the day ahead. Her movements were unhurried; in truth it was more of a stroll than a pace.

  She liked to come in early, when the gallery and the neighborhood outside were quiet and peaceful. Here, unhurried by the daily frenzy which inevitably came with the dawn, she could consider what she must do, what she needed to do and what she hoped to do, and plan accordingly. On good days there was plenty of time for the last category. On bad ones, unexpected ones and surprising ones…well, she just rolled with it.

  This day included a tour group from a local elementary in the morning, gallery open hours interrupted by a lunch meeting at a business owners’ industry association, and the continuation of Ledesma’s exhibit from mid-afternoon until late in the evening. A busy day to be sure. But she enjoyed the exhibit, so not a bad one.

  She was reviewing the discussion topic for the lunch meeting when her eVi flashed a custom alert. She had a number of flagged items for which her eVi maintained a constant passive filter; if one of them showed up in any major news feed, she was notified.

  Seven alerts cascaded in before she finished reading the initial one. She sank against her desk with a long sigh. “Oh, Caleb darling, you truly have gotten yourself into a mess this time….”

  A hand rose to her chin. Her gaze drifted to the windows on the far wall, where the first rays of light from one of Romane’s two suns began to peek over the horizon. After a moment she pivoted and walked out of the office, pulsing Jonathan as she strode through the empty exhibit room.

  Can you cover the tour group for me this morning?

  Uh, sure…how much trouble can twenty nine year-olds be?

  I’m not going to respond to that question except to say ‘thank you.’

  Once the doors to the gallery had closed behind her she sent Caleb a message, presuming he was far too occupied to answer a pulse at the moment.

  Caleb,

  I’ll have the items you—both of you—will need ready by the time you arrive.

  — Mia

  She paused briefly on the sidewalk to consider her options, then headed to the parking lot. She’d go home first, to her very private and very secure office. From there she could hack the entry records and create an ID, which were the most important components. Then if there was time, she’d go shopping.

  So this would be an unexpected day then.

  This time Mia was standing at the airlock when it opened. In noted contrast to their prior arrival, she wore jeans, boots and a red cowled sweater. After all, this was no longer about formality and proper impressions; it was about survival.

  She waved them back toward the rental ship and followed them in. “We need to take care of a few things before you return to your ship.”

  She dropped a large bag on the table and started handing out gear. “Fashionable—but not too fashionable—hat, sunglasses and jacket for each of you.” Caleb accepted the items with a nod. Alex looked a little perplexed and vaguely suspicious, but after a hesitant pause took the gear.

  Next to come out of the bag was several small containers. “Drops to change eye color. They last around two days. Hair dye as well.” She glanced at Alex. “I’d still recommend pulling your hair up, and maybe curl it or something when you go out.”

  Alex frowned at her—frowned more, anyway. “Are you certain? I thought it would be better to wear it down and obscure my face.”

  Mia regarded her curiously, then shifted her attention to Caleb. He was leaning against the wall in an attempt at appearing relaxed. It was a good attempt; she wasn’t fooled. “She honestly has no idea, does she?”

  A corner of his mouth tweaked up as his head shook. “No, she doesn’t.” His focus drew over to Alex and…oh god, he really is in love with her.

  “Um, hello? Standing right here?”

  She gave a dry laugh. “Alex, how you’ve never realized this in your however-many years of existence is beyond me, but you are a rather uncommon-looking woman—especially with that hair of yours. Not in a bad way, mind you. But your image is being spammed across the galaxy right now, and people are most definitely going to remember it. So try to keep that in mind when you show your face in public, okay?”

  She didn’t give Alex a chance to respond. “Now I took the liberty of setting up a comprehensive false identity for you. Load it into your cybernetics and it will pass a mid-level scan, change your fingerprints, the whole works. The name’s Zoe Galanis. I hope it works for you. Caleb, you have many of those. Pick one.”

  “Already done. Riley Knight, mechanical engineer for Atmospheric Solutions.”

  Alex studied the details on the ID. “How did you manage to get your hands on this so quickly?”

  Mia shrugged. “I set it up myself.”

  Alex’s eyes shot over to her. It was possible this time they showed a glint of appreciation. “Impressive.”

  “Well I did pick up a few useful skills during my indentured servitude. The serial number and registration for the Siyane were doctored when you arrived, and as soon as the news broke I back-masked the corridor records. You’ll want to load the doctored information into the ship before departing.”

  She checked the bag to confirm it was now empty, then turned to them, a sigh on her lips. “Listen guys, even given all this, you should try to lie low. Your faces are everywhere, and with the war heating up the Romane government is having kittens trying to make sure it doesn’t piss either side off. Independent or not, they will extradite you in a heartbeat if you’re caught.”

  Alex nodded distractedly while she continued to study the ID. Caleb smiled. “You’re a lifesaver, Mia. We owe you.”

  Were you able to take care of the other matter?

  Your girlfriend has some ridiculously tight security on her ship—but yes, it’s done. Secondary encryption key is Д085401Н129914С.

  Makes sense…an anagram of the dates of her father’s birth and death with his initials.

  Yeah, Meno said the same thing.

  Meno?

  My Artificial.

  Mia….

  Don’t lecture me.

  Fine, I trust you’re being careful. Listen, thank you. I mean it. And know—it’s only in case I need it to save us both.

>   You never have to explain yourself to me, Caleb. Are you okay?

  No. I’m pissed.

  Then they had better watch out.

  She shook her head. “No, I still owe you—but I think I might see ‘even’ on the horizon.”

  He chuckled…and she suddenly realized how tired he looked. “Fair enough. We’ll be here for another day, day and a half. We need to make a couple of upgrades and stock up on supplies.”

  Mia’s eyes narrowed. “Stock up for…what, exactly?”

  70

  EARTH

  Washington, Earth Alliance Headquarters

  * * *

  Marcus reviewed colony reports while the workers moved his furniture into the new office. He wore a perfect mask of grave concern as befitted the situation, but beneath it he was feeling quite pleased.

  The Foreign Minister merited both a larger, better-appointed office and a suite filled by aides to go with it. The view was different; instead of the gardens, his office now looked out on the Potomac. It painted a congenial scene, but he didn’t intend on getting attached to it.

  Barrera had come to him the night before the Assembly ‘no confidence’ vote to bring him up to speed on developments and to provisionally offer him the post of Foreign Minister.

  Barrera had emphasized the severity and gravity of the circumstances and reiterated what everyone in settled space already knew: the post was, for all intents and purposes, the most powerful one outside of the Prime Ministership itself. He had expressed confidence Marcus was up to the task of serving as the Alliance’s ambassador to the galaxy.

  He had reminded Marcus that while in cases of removal of a Prime Minister by the Assembly for cause, the position passed to the Speaker, this was not the case in the event of a Prime Minister’s death or unforeseen inability to perform his duties. In those instances the administration otherwise continued unchanged, and the line of succession passed through the Foreign Minister’s office before any others.

  He had asked if Marcus was willing to bear such a solemn responsibility.