Chapter Twelve
April 15, 2230, Low Earth Orbit, Llewellyn Observatory
Tony pointed to a line on the data window open in front of him, highlighting it. The gesture also affected the mirrored windows floating in front of Professor Lal and Arda as they all sat around the conference table. Tony had been dubious Professor Lal would listen to him, but his supervising professor had been enthusiastic.
“As indicated here, we’re still seeing evidence of course changes,” Tony explained. “Whatever the phenomenon is, it’s not over, and there’s possibly a second approaching object.”
“A second?” Professor Lal stroked his long gray beard. “Huh. That’s interesting. Very interesting.”
“It’s coming in from a different angle, and I have not been able to verify any major course corrections or unusual spectral readings. It could be a ship, or it could just be some tiny chunk of an asteroid or comet.” Tony sighed. “I wish they’d do a nice burn or something so we could figure it out. I’m having trouble picking it out from the historical data, but it could even be some old probe that floated over there over the centuries.”
“We can figure all that out in good time.” Professor Lal waved a hand dismissively. “Good, good. I need you to get this data into a more digestible format. Focus on the two primary objects for now.”
“Digestible?” Tony frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“I’ve made certain arrangements.” Professor Lal took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “A Vand Foundation representative will be visiting the observatory soon. They are neither an astronomer nor a scientist, so we’ll need your visual aids and supporting data presented in a way that won’t intimidate or alienate them.”
“The Vand Foundation?” Tony looked at Arda, who shrugged. “I get that I’m on a Vand Foundation grant, but why call them here? Don’t we have to focus on publishing before whoever sent the ship?”
Professor Lal folded his hands and a knowing smile appeared on his face. “You don’t understand just how indebted this entire facility is to the Vand Foundation. Not just your work. Yes, we do need to practice a certain level of secrecy, but the money we receive requires more than just sticking a notice on our papers about our research being supported by generous grants from the Vand Foundation.”
Tony groaned and slumped in his chair. “They’re going to take the discovery from us!”
“No, no, no. Don’t fret, my boy. If we play our cards right, this could become an even bigger success than any of us anticipate, but to do that, we’ll need the foundation totally on our side, and we can’t get them there by keeping information from them.” Professor Lal motioned to the data window. “What we can do is use this to get additional funding and personnel.”
Arda lifted his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. “How do we know they won’t pass this along to someone else?”
“I’ve already explained the basics of what we’ve discovered,” Professor Lal replied, “and they were very keen on us not spreading this around until we can gather more information. They’ve also made some indirect inquiries about our research to different groups to see if anyone else is working on similar information. The Vand Foundation representative said they would do their best to make sure that our research group gets the credit, provided we keep our mouths shut, and let them manage things.”
Arda grimaced. “Uh, about that…”
Tony whipped his head toward the other student. “Please don’t tell me you told anyone else about it.”
“Not exactly.” Arda ran a hand through his hair, his hand shaking slightly. “I just asked some questions on a forum. I wasn’t specific, and I didn’t use my name or any detailed data, so it’s not like they can link it to us.”
“That’s not the point, you idiot,” Professor Lal snapped. “If anyone figures out what we’re doing, they might be able to get a paper out before us. I’m delaying only because I want the full cooperation of the Vand Foundation before I proceed, and the only reason I told them is that we’ll need their resources and pull.”
Arda sighed. “It’s not like that.” He averted his eyes. “It wasn’t an academic forum.”
“Then what the hell was it?” Tony asked. “You told a reporter?”
“No. They’re a bunch of crazies.” Arda looked down at the table, his shoulders slumped. “I’ve talked to them in the past. They’re nuts, but also smart and unorthodox, and they have a way of helping you look at things from a different perspective. I thought they could give me some insight, but I didn’t use my normal avatar or handle or anything like that, and I wasn’t that specific. There’s no way they could figure it out from what I said.”
Professor Lal stood slowly and fixed a harsh glare on Arda. “I only hope these people are less—”
The entire room shook violently. Loud, shrill alarms sounded. The students and professor stared at each other as another tremor shook the room. The data windows vanished.
“What’s going on?” Tony shouted.
Professor Lal tried to tap his PNIU, but he missed. “Direct command, status repo—”
Another tremor threw him into the back wall, and his head slammed into the hard metal with a loud crack. Tony’s eyes widened as the professor didn’t fall to the ground, instead floating away. Spherical droplets of blood drifted away from the wall. Tony looked down. He was slowly rising toward the ceiling. Arda gripped the table tightly to stay in place.
“We’ve lost gravity!” Tony looked around, eyes darting from floating object to floating object.
“No shit! You should get your Ph.D. for that brilliant observation!” Arda shouted. “We need to figure out—”
A massive fireball tore through the wall, and fragments of metal blasted into the room like a hundred shotguns fired in a cruel volley. They shredded the students and the unconscious professor. Tony coughed up blood, the reflex pushing him slowly backward and leaving a trail of his vital red fluid floating in front of him. His agony was short because another explosion ripped through the room and consumed the men inside. He didn’t live long enough to feel the cold, cruel touch of the vacuum of space.
Julia steepled her fingers and leaned back in the comfortable body-hugging softness of her chair. She smiled at the hologram of the hooded figure standing in front of her, his head bowed.
“The primary information leak on the matter of interest has been handled, ma’am,” he reported.
Julia arched a delicate brow. “Primary? You’ve found others?”
“In the course of investigating the matter, we learned that certain information was passed beyond the targets of interest. Additional information containment steps are necessary.”
“Unfortunate, but not surprising.” Julia threaded her fingers together. “And there’s no additional risk of leaks from the primary source?”
“We were authorized to take any and all necessary measures, ma’am,” the man replied. “The leaks were sealed, and the relevant evidence deleted.”
“Yes, you were.” Julia narrowed her eyes, understanding what they’d done. “Continue with that. If you need additional resources, contact me, and I’ll provide them. Now finish cleaning this up.” She flicked her wrist. “End call.”
Julia took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. Sophia Vand was dead, but somehow that annoying woman was still managing to vex her. It was like her ghost was reaching out of the grave to try to strangle Julia on the cusp of her greatness.
But the specter’s efforts would amount to nothing.
The completion of the first step in the current project would be the beginning of Julia solidifying her control over the Core and thus the entire UTC. It’d take a couple more years for her to finish the task, but the decades had granted her patience. All she needed to do was get her people to their destination at the edge of the Solar System.
Julia made a couple of quick gestures and brought up a long-range image of the comet of interest. “And this, Sophia, is why you lost. You lacke
d imagination. You never even thought to look nearby for greatness.”
Chapter Thirteen
April 20, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Restaurant “Mistral”
Jia lifted her wine glass and took a sip of the Chardonnay, enjoying the hints of lemon and vanilla playing across her tongue.
The fish was decent at the restaurant, but she was loving the wine, or maybe she was loving spending time with her friends and getting a decent buzz without any concern over shooting someone or dirty cops trying to survive their past mistakes.
Relaxation.
She’d always been a workaholic, but she understood the need to recharge. What with running around for Alina and incidental trouble arising, it grew harder with each passing month to shut off. A worry about trouble always lingered in her thoughts, threatening to push her onto a dark path. She couldn’t always rely on Erik to pull her out.
Jia let out a satisfied sigh. “It’s nice to get together like this.”
Her friends Chinara and Imogen sat at the same table, drinking their wine and enjoying their fish. Jia wasn’t lying. Fighting Tin Men on Venus or taking down syndicate flunkies on Earth could weary a person, even one like her, who was used to that level of trouble.
“It is!” Imogen replied with a smile, her cheeks flushed from her wine. “I used to be a little annoyed with you when you first started spending all your time with Erik.”
Jia arched a brow. “You were? It’s not like we’re always together.”
“It’s not a big deal.” Imogen nodded, ignoring a stern gaze from Chinara. “Yes, but it’s garbage to get angry with you because you wanted to do more with your career and spend more time with your partner. And that’s before you started dating him.”
“Uh, thanks?”
Imogen waved a hand. “Don’t worry. I’m over it now, and you know what they say: absence makes the heart grow fonder.” She reached over to pat Jia’s hand.
Jia wondered about that. The more time she spent with Erik, the more her affection grew. She didn’t want to be away from him, and not just because she worried he would end up with a bullet in the brain without her watching his back. Her current situation was convenient in more than one way.
Chinara gently cleared her throat. “I couldn’t have asked for a better transition. I have something I want to share with you.”
The other two women looked her way and awaited her elaboration. They both took the opportunity to down more wine but kept their attention on their friend.
“Things have been going well with Conrad.” Chinara smiled softly. “Very well.”
“Meaning what?” Imogen gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“It’s been hard for me to keep it a secret.” Chinara took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “This morning, Conrad asked me to marry him.”
Imogen squealed in delight and leapt out of her chair so quickly it clattered to the ground. Everyone turned to look at her, and she offered a sheepish smile in response, then picked up her chair and took her seat again. A nearby waiter shook his head and mumbled under his breath before wandering away.
“So,” Imogen began in a painfully serious tone, “I assume you said yes?” She waved a hand to fan her face before she stopped, eyeing her friend. “Or is this a sad story?”
“Of course I said yes.” Chinara shook her head. “Sometimes you worry too much.”
“Congratulations.” Jia set her drink down. “You’ve always seemed like a good couple, and you’ve been dating for a while now. It seems like forever since we went out with those three guys.” The rest of the words fell out of her mouth before she’d even time to think about what she was saying. “But I have to admit I’m a little shocked.”
Her friends spun in their chairs to drill her with their curious gazes. Chinara looked surprised, but Imogen looked eager to feast off the potential drama that might arise. She’d always been that way.
Jia waved her hands in front of her. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’s great! It’s just that of the three of us, I always figured Imogen would be the first to get married.”
“Oh.” Imogen smirked and picked up her wine. “Before we touch on that, a toast. To Chinara and her new husband. May he get all the fun in before it’s too late and Chinara makes him unfun.”
“Very funny.” Chinara laughed and picked up her glass. “To me.”
“To you,” Jia offered after picking up her glass. They all took a drink.
Imogen set her glass down. “If I end up marrying Michael, we’ll be two for three with those guys we met that night. You sure you don’t want to dump Erik and start dating Bolin again, Jia? It’d be a funny story we could all share.”
“I think I’m good with Erik.” Jia chuckled. “I’ve got nothing against Bolin, but Erik’s a much better match for me in a lot of ways.”
“It’s kind of funny you ended up with a big, tough guy,” Imogen replied. “Though you’ve always been the toughest of the three of us, even when you weren’t getting in shootouts all the time.”
“I don’t get in shootouts all the time.” Jia frowned at her friend, but she tried to keep the malice down.
Imogen grinned, an unsubtle eagerness in her eyes. “It depends on how you define ‘all the time,’ but you don’t go more than a couple of weeks to a month before getting involved in something crazy that ends up in the news. I thought you’d be over that since you quit the police, but…” Her grin transformed into a smirk. “After all, I should remember the NSCPD will always be watching.”
Jia’s lips pressed together. “We did the commercial as a favor to our old captain,” she muttered. “Now everyone thinks we’re practically cops again. That was an unusual situation. Besides, we’re supposed to be talking about Chinara and Conrad, not Erik and me.”
Although convincing people that Erik and Jia were still close to the department was half the point of agreeing to the commercial, the extra scrutiny from the media, family, and friends was weighing on Jia.
In another life, she could have been satisfied working as an Intelligence Directorate agent deep in the shadows without anyone knowing what she was doing, but the younger, more naïve version of herself hadn’t even considered the possibility.
She wasn’t sure if that would have made her happier, not that she was all that unhappy.
“We’ll have plenty of time to talk about my wedding in the coming months,” Chinara commented. “For now, you’re more interesting, Jia.” She finished her wine. She glanced at her barely touched her fish. “You know what’s interesting? How you can’t go on a sexy little vacation without getting into trouble with terrorists.”
“Of course.” Imogen nodded eagerly. “We’ve barely been able to talk to you about Venus. I figured you’d tell us more eventually, but you’ve been stingy with the details.”
“Stingy?” Jia put her fingers to her temple and massaged them. “We just happened to be there. It’s not like we wanted to get involved in a terrorist incident. It was nothing but a vacation that got ruined by psychos.”
She might never be comfortable with lying, but like any other skill, it became easier with practice. Disturbingly so. She didn’t even have trouble keeping track of her lies.
The key, she found, was picking a simple cover story and elaborating around that. Then it was just a matter of keeping two separate realities together in her head.
Imogen blew a raspberry. “Who cares about you killing terrorists? That’s your standard weekend activity.”
The sad part was, it was mostly true.
If it wasn’t actually killing terrorists, then it was participating in training simulations involving taking on terrorists and enforcers. She couldn’t say she minded the training, but she could see how it would seem odd to anyone more normal.
“Then what are we talking about?” Jia asked, confused but happy they didn’t want to drill her more about what had happened on Venus. She’d been expecting it for a
while and hoped something else new and shiny would pop up to distract her friends.
“I’m talking about floating hanky-panky.” Imogen wiggled her eyebrows. “And all the flexibility that requires. I know Erik’s strong and probably has good endurance, but how flexible is he?”
“Oh.” Jia’s cheeks heated. “I think you’re under a misunderstanding that I should clear up. We didn’t go there for floating hanky-panky.”
“So you’re saying you went all the way to Venus, not for work or killing terrorists, and you didn’t spend the time having fun?” Imogen rolled her eyes. “That’s a transparent lie! Don’t insult me.”
“We went there on vacation.” Jia sighed. “And, yes, Parvati is a floating city, but it’s floating relative to the surface of Venus, and the city is sealed off from the outside with grav field compensation, so functionally when you’re inside of it, it’s not that much different from being in a tower or a dome. It’s not zero-G or anything. Doing anything there, um, doesn’t require unusual flexibility.”
Imogen’s shoulders slumped. “Oh, it makes sense when you explain it that way, but you still went all the way to another planet for a romantic getaway. I know you went to the moon before with Erik, but the moon isn’t romantic. I mean, for crying out loud, you went to a city named after a love goddess on a planet named after a love goddess. That’s got to result in something special happening.”
She put a finger to her lips. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Jia’s eyes narrowed, and her finger pointed at Imogen. “Wait. We should really be talking about Chinara and Conrad, not Erik and me.”
“Like I said, we can wait,” Chinara waved a hand in disagreement. “Besides, Imogen and I spend more time together lately since you’re so busy.” She folded her hands together. “I have a decent idea of where things are going with Imogen and Michael, but I’m never sure where things are going with you and Erik. This is a good chance to get the truth, when you’ve got a couple of glasses of wine in you.” She gave Jia a stern look. “And don’t try to pretend your relationship isn’t going anywhere. You spend practically every waking moment with the man.”
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