“And you already knew ours,” Driscoll said. Again, he reminded me of one of my tutors. There was a warning edge to his words. I wondered why he bothered. He’d saved my life a few times now in very subtle ways. It seemed a touch out of character.
“So what now,” Kitsano said, and she seemed more shadow than solid as she said it.
“Now we wait and we plan,” I said, still massaging.
“Agreed,” said Driscoll, and they all nodded.
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was a good thing that the Baldric Three had made themselves at home in the camp they called “The Ledge” because we didn’t have much to occupy us beyond waiting.
The first night we were there they allowed Driscoll and I our own bunks, but took turns ‘keeping watch.’ Based on the looks they exchanged and the fact that they didn’t ask us to take a turn on watch, I figured they were mostly keeping an eye on us – or me. Trust between us was still a little thin.
I cuddled down in the marine-issue cot, grateful to have a real bed for the first time since arriving on Baldric. I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked since I needed to get my implant working on things, but I tried my best.
That first night I hacked the Baldric Three’s computer systems via the implant, took control of their makeshift antenna, and attempted to hijack the satellite. Like Michael, I was unable to send a signal out from the satellite without direct access to the colony computers, but I could monitor the passives just fine. I set up a monitoring system to alert me of any approaching ships, planetary disturbances or other anomalies.
I also scanned the passives for any information on the El Dorado. She was dead. Her drives were damaged beyond repair, none of her personnel were logged as still living, and even her emergency power had fizzled out. There would be no help on that end.
I had the implant downloading the Baldric Three’s records, it would have to sift through usage reports to glean anything useful. So far the records backed up their claims.
I also tried to access the colony computers remotely, but to no avail. The Baldric Three were right. We would need to physically go back to make any changes. They were visibly worried about the prospect – gun shy. Based on that, I was feeling very grateful that they had come to ‘rescue’ me at all. I hadn’t made my thanks very clear beyond the statement that Driscoll had cajoled from me. I was realizing that gratitude was not my strong suit. That would come back and bite me some day if I didn’t fix it.
The implant still hadn’t detected any damage from my ordeal, but I was worried that the damage wouldn’t be noticeable until it was too late. There was no telling what that device could have done to my implant. I told my implant to continue to run diagnostics concurrently with the other tasks.
After that I let the system work its magic and I went to sleep. I did not dream of Roman, and I was both relieved and terrified by that. Hopefully another ship would come soon. My time to help him was running out.
The next morning, I woke last. I think having had my first real sleep in days had made me sleep longer than usual. Everyone else was holding a whispered conference in the common room around food and hot beverages. They stopped speaking when I strolled in the room.
“Don’t let me spoil the fun,” I said with a raised eyebrow, running my hand through my spoiled hair.
I grabbed the scissors from off the counter and saw Kitsano flinch. I sighed.
“Can anyone direct me to the facilities?”
Roberta pointed to my left, and I worked my way through the maze of makeshift walls and rooms in the direction she had sent me. There were outhouses on the edge of the cliff with a makeshift shower system set up. The shower was chilly as the water poured through a jury-rigged pipe-like contraption straight from the stream. You opened a valve to get it to pour in an enclosed space, and hey-presto a shower. I made use of the facilities, showered, and used the scissors to tidy my butcher-job on my hair. It was still a bit ragged and very short, but it would do. It was far more practical now, and I actually looked kind of ... mean. Here on Baldric that was a good thing.
There was nothing I could do about my clothing, but it was made of a dirt-resistant fabric and so a quick brushing and shaking and it was almost as good as clean, although that didn’t do much for the lived-in smell. All of Baldric smelled faintly of rotting citrus, and when you combined that with body odor it was enough to make anyone’s belly roll.
Everyone was still whispering when I returned the scissors. Once again they quieted when I returned. I ignored them.
“Driscoll has been telling us about the things the Matsumotos have done,” Roberta said. Her voice sounded like she was trying to bait me into a fight.
“At any time of the day or night he’s telling somebody,” I said wryly.
Driscoll’s expression was blank, but the others watched me curiously.
“Are you expecting me to defend the actions of my family?” I asked, pouring myself a cup of the hot beverage and sipping. It was a fragrant herbal tea. Possibly local. Probably not drugged. I still hadn’t eaten, but I was doing pretty well despite that. No real loss of energy, though my belly was knotted and painful.
Is there a reason that I can go so well without food? I asked my implant.
Your system is full of injected nanites which were brought up to date at your last doctor’s appointment. They will cannibalize your body to provide the energy that you need. You will not notice many symptoms of hunger. You have approximately twenty-two days of normal activity levels and then you will expire. Increased energy use will shorten that time frame.
“Well, they are your family,” Michael suggested.
I didn’t answer. I just sipped my tea. They were my family, yes, and that made them my responsibility, but my responsibility lay in rectifying their actions, not justifying them.
“He’s also telling us about Driscoll’s Own,” Roberta challenged.
Nice, Patrick. He was the typical terrorist – always recruiting.
“We like what we hear,” Roberta said.
Really, she was going to have to work harder than that if she was going to goad me.
“Then why don’t you join?” I asked, sipping again.
“We already have,” Roberta said.
Was she lying? I glanced at Driscoll. Apparently not. I had thought all that whispering had been about me, but I guess that was a bit egocentric. He’d actually been winning a few converts.
“What you do in your spare time isn’t really my concern,” I said, still playing cool-and-collected with the tea sipping.
Roberta’s eyes flashed, and I hid a smile behind the mug. Score one for Vera. My inner grin faded at Driscoll’s gaze. He was assessing me again and his eyes were narrowed. If I had a father, maybe Driscoll would remind me of him. I disappointed him constantly, never living up to his standards.
“While you were learning the secret handshake I was working on another project,” I said.
“What’s that?” Kitsano said.
“Figuring out how to get us off this rock,” I said. “You were right that the satellite can’t be ordered outside the slaved terminal at the colony, but I can read its mail. We’ll know when a ship is coming. What’s the turn-around from here to New Greenland?”
“Four days,” Kitasano said, and I choked on the tea.
I was still coughing when Driscoll said, “That’s all?!”
“Did you think we were months or years out?” Lieutenant Kitsano said in a dry tone.
“Frankly, yes! They had us in cryosleep!”
“It’s easier to keep the tigers calm when you use a tranquilizer,” Roberta said, almost echoing my thoughts exactly. Maybe she was quicker than I was giving her credit for.
“Plus, no one wants prisoners to know where this planet is,” Lieutenant Kitsano said, “If you ever went back home you could tell people. Or you might be more motivated to try to escape if you knew it was only a few days voyage, not light years. Plus, they can keep you that w
ay as long as they like while they collect prisoners from all over the Empire. Maybe you were in cryosleep for months. Maybe some of you were in it for years.”
That was unsettling. How long were Ian and I held in the belly of that ship before we were put out here? Had I missed years in the outside world? I scanned my memories quickly trying to think if I had seen any hints of how much time had passed in Roman’s memories.
“I thought we were considered ‘colonists,’” Driscoll muttered.
How long were we in cryosleep?
Roberta rolled her eyes and said, “Can we drop the pretense?”
He opened up his palm in a gesture of acceptance.
Eleven months and two days.
I choked back a gasp as I absorbed the implant’s revelation.
“The planet is hidden in plain sight?” I asked Kitsano, trying to cover my shock.
“Yes. It’s in a system that contains a lot of mineral asteroids, but it is flagged as a useless ball of rock. No one questions the surveyor records. Why would they lie?”
It had been almost a year after they separated Roman and I we landed here. We’d lost almost a year, and we were only four days away. When Roman had been on the rooftop with the Sergeant they’d been on New Greenland. They’d been only four days away. Where was he now? Was it possible that he was still somewhere that close? My traitorous eyes welled with tears, and I fought to blink them away.
“Well wouldn’t miners notice all the traffic here?” Driscoll asked. He was watching me, with his forehead wrinkled with concern. He could see what I was trying to hide.
“All what traffic?” Roberta grumbled, but Kitsano silenced her with a raised hand.
“The minerals are Crown Holdings and no one has been given access to them for generations. They claim that they are a reserve.”
“Clever enough,” Driscoll muttered, “and typical of Matsumotos.”
I wish I could give us that much credit.
“So if a ship arrives here, how much lead time will we have from the satellite’s warning?” Kitsano asked me.
I shrugged and said, “Hours.”
“And they could arrive any day,” Driscoll said.
“Yes,” I agreed. I was trying very hard to remain cool and aloof, like I was focused on the task, while inside I was a fury of emotions.
Michael glanced at his computer. He knew I hadn’t accessed it, and they had probably checked me for portable devices. His brow furrowed, but he said nothing.
“So either we find a way to go to the colony right now,” I said, “and we establish our connection from there as soon as possible, or we wait for the signal and then we will have to high-tail it there so we can communicate with the ship when it enters Baldric orbit.”
“If we go back we risk dealing with Major Reynolds,” Driscoll said.
“If Reynolds is still alive,” I added.
“And Reynolds won’t work with us,” he said, “Not now. Even before he was attacked he wanted to cut open our heads.”
“Then we wait,” Lieutenant Kitsano said.
“It will make our timeline tight when we eventually do have to get up and go,” I said, twiddling the mug in my hands and desperately trying not to think about where Roman might be and whether he was sailing in the opposite direction.
“But it’s the only real option,” Driscoll agreed.
It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all we had.
The days were long. I felt the time pass with a keenness born of my new ambitions and my intense worry about Roman. When I had thought him a Blackwatch marine I had been worried, because life for marines is dangerous, but I’d been pleased. After all, it was a life and I thought he would do well in it, but now he was sentenced to death and I was consumed with worry.
He hated the Empire for what we had done to his family and he had been made to serve. The woman he loved had been taken from him by death, and he had still served. He was sentenced to a hopeless task, and I knew he would still serve. Somehow I would rescue him from this endless servitude and give him what he had always wanted – freedom from this life he didn’t want.
I missed him. I’d failed him. It was the least I could do for him.
I imagined his eyes alight as he helped me take down Nigel. My heart warmed as I remembered his soft lips on mine. I wanted him safe and whole and happy. I wanted him somewhere far away from where I – or any other Matsumoto- could damage him. I wanted him to be okay.
My face healed enough that I was able to remove the bandage, revealing a fat pink scar with jagged, puckered edges. It wasn’t pretty. That scalpel must have really been out of control when it carved Daniels’ signature down my cheek.
My eye was blessedly untouched though the scar came very close. Moving my face hurt, and I felt nothing where the scar was, or in the skin surrounding it. Nerves must have been cut. I could still move my eyes and mouth, but the left side of my face was a bit stiff looking when I smiled or frowned. It felt like a foreign piece of plastic rather than my own face. Then again, very little about me felt the same anymore.
Driscoll was not idle in the days that we waited. He had won the hearts of these half-shadow drifters and they hung on his every word. Kitsano had taken the longest, but now she was the worst. She followed him with a dog-like devotion. The Matsumoto-hating cause would have three very dedicated followers by the time he was through. I should have been offended, but I wasn’t.
They left me alone, whispering when I was near. I no longer thought it was about me. Most likely it was secret Driscoll’s Own business, but it worried me when they sent hungry glances in my direction. Did they want me to join, too? That was somewhat irrational. What, exactly, did they want from me?
One morning I overheard what they were talking about.
“You should have seen her. She rode a rhino and came charging down the hill into their ranks. The whole army of shadows scattered.”
“Now that’s a Matsumoto I would follow.”
Strange. I didn’t have time to think on it, though, because my implant chirped.
Starship has been detected on course for Baldric.
Chapter Twenty-Five
ETA?
Starship is on vector for least time transition to Baldric orbit. ETA to orbit approximately six hours.
We would be in range of communications by the time they reached orbit. Six hours wasn’t much time to fight through an army of shadows to the colony and talk them into seeing things our way, so we needed to leave Casa Baldric Three.
I made a beeline into the common room where the usual suspects had their heads close together drinking their local tea and talking quietly. I cleared my throat, and they all looked at me. Driscoll looked amused.
“It’s go time,” I said, in the most clichéd way possible.
“Already?” Michael said, as if we hadn’t been waiting for days.
My vision swam for a micro-second, but I blinked away any worries about that. It was probably oxygen toxicity. That caused bouts of disorientation.
I picked up my assigned pack and firearm. Kitsano had been reluctant to set one aside for me. They had plenty, but I think the marine still saw me as a potential threat.
I was still strapping on my pack when I realized that no one else was joining me.
“Have you changed your mind?” I asked Patrick with a raised eyebrow.
“Far from it,” he replied with an odd note in his voice. He’d been strange the last few days - or maybe I should say ‘stranger than normal.’ He was still his passionate, but somewhat hidden, self trying to attach strings to everyone he met and apply gentle pressure to those strings, but something had changed in his demeanor to me.
“Move out,” Kitsano said, picking up her pack and gun and elbowing past me.
The others followed now that she was the one giving the orders instead of me, and I found myself in the rear with Driscoll.
“Never a dull moment, is there, Vera,” he said wryly.
“Not on Baldric,” I a
greed, booting up my implant’s fighting programs and mapping program.
We were an hour’s hike from the colony. If we were quick and didn’t encounter resistance from the shadows, we would have more time to negotiate with whoever was leading the colony.
Driscoll was in a chatty mood. “And before Baldric? Where were you then?”
“Capricornia,” I said, biting my lip as a wave of homesickness for Roman washed over me.
“I understand it was a bit chaotic there, as well,” Driscoll said, “and there was also drama on Nagara. Has there been anywhere that you’ve been since you graduated that was not quickly thrown into chaos and death.”
I frowned, and my eyebrows knitted together. What did he want me to say? Was I supposed to admit I was the angel of death or something?
“I do what I have to do when I have to do it.”
“To what end?” he challenged.
“To fulfill my duty and loyalty to the people and nation I was born for,” I said, like it was a catechism answer. In a way it was. I turned to look at him square in the face, and my cheeks flamed with my own passion. I was so sick of having to explain myself to everyone all the time. “I know you hate me for that. I know you’d all like to see me dead. But guess what? I don’t care anymore. I am carved of duty and born to responsibility. I’ve failed, but I will find a way back somehow. Know that. And know that all your challenges and reality checks can’t tell me anything bad about myself that I don’t already see every time I look into a mirror.”
I grimaced and looked away. I knew that I’d earned the hell everyone seemed to want to put me through, but it sure was getting monotonous.
We trudged quietly down the mountain, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible so as not to stir up the shadows. The trees were getting larger, with wider spreading branches and more of the eggplant-colored leaves growing thick. I was admiring how the too-white light looked on their pale undersides when I felt that same echo in my implant that I hadn’t heard since the Baldric Three saved me.
My head pounded with it, and somehow it was more intense than ever before. Waves of those echoes rolled over me, growing stronger and louder with each successive wave. After a full minute I saw the Baldric Three stiffen also, their bodies becoming less solid and more faded. They flickered at the height of the wave I felt and I thought that they must be feeling them, too.
The Splitting (The Matsumoto Trilogy Book 2) Page 15