Senescence (Jezebel's Ladder Book 5)

by Scott Rhine

  “So be it.”

  Stu smiled. “This could be the greatest boon to mankind since the Pax Romana or the Enlightenment.”

  Eyeing the metallic substrate enfolding Eowyn, Yvette said, “The silver peace—Pax Argentum.”

  ****

  An hour into the imprinting process, Koku reported, “I need at least twelve hours at this rate of progress. As a sign of faith, I will allow you to speak to the other humans.”

  Stu broadcast on the emergency channel. “Ambassador Llewellyn reporting. Are there any other survivors in the Dark Base Seven vicinity?”

  Oleander responded almost immediately. “Thank God. I’ve been trying to contact you Out-of-Body, but Kaguya isn’t responding. I’m holed up with Smokey and five techs who survived the cave-in. One of them has a crushed arm. The rest of the injuries are minor. Smokey is still unconscious, but his suit says his vitals are good.”

  “What about Sif?”

  “When the assault craft blew up the tower, we lost pressure,” Oleander explained. “She didn’t make it without her spacesuit.”

  Stu winced. “My fault.”

  Kaguya moaned again.

  Oleander said, “Our lookout reports that the Chinese have about eight men on the way from their crash site. Our long-range radio is fried, though. It appears that our NERO ship, Saint Bernard, is going to be a legitimate rescue operation. What happened down there? I didn’t see Mo when I scouted.”

  “Little ears hear everything, boss,” he said, meaning, Not in front of the AI.

  “Roger.”

  “Eowyn is currently merged with Koku. Tell the NERO folks that she’ll be staying at their lunar base. We’ll invent some sort of safety liaison position for her, but her main job will be monitoring the health of her creation. Have you been topside since the blast?”

  “Yes. One big, shiny puddle.”

  “How big is the hole in the side of the crater?”

  “You could build a highway through that tunnel.”

  “That’s what I needed to know. Talk to you in another hour. Gravity Boy out.”

  Once Stu lowered the only working headset, Koku spoke again. “Is this how I expand?”

  “I looked at the survey maps. This should give you about ten times the surface area before you hit the titanium barrier.” Plus however far the interior dust scattered in the blast. “Once you’re certified as ethical by your mother, I’ll tell you the rest.”

  Kaguya shivered, and Stu put her helmet and gloves back on.

  “That uses up suit oxygen. Turn up the shuttle heat a little more,” Yvette said.

  “The heater was in use when the EMP hit. It’s limping at best. Right now, we’re coasting downhill.”

  “You should carry her to the residential area,” Yvette said. “It’ll be more comfortable.”

  “We only have one sword,” he replied. “If the ethics don’t stick, at least one of the groups wouldn’t make it out alive. No more dead. We all go together.”

  Yvette nodded. “I’d count that as a win.”

  “My first mission has been pretty awful. I don’t think Z will ever let me out in the field again.”

  “Focus on the positive. You’ll be saving billions, setting the course of a species, and returning to your blushing bride with all your working parts.” Yvette combed his hair with her hand. “So what if you don’t get to go in the field? That means you get more time to raise little Conrad.”

  “One terrifying mission at a time.”

  ****

  After disconnecting from fourteen hours with the crown, Eowyn convinced Stu that the ethics transfer had been a success. Yvette wanted Eowyn scanned at the hospital, but there seemed to be no harmful effects from the merging. Even so, Stu waited until the other human survivors were all in the NERO saucer in order to hold his final conversation with the AI.

  “How do I escape my bounds?” Koku demanded, sounding even more like a shrill echo of Eowyn than before.

  “How far can you tunnel under the titanium layer?” Stu asked on the private channel.

  “With time, anything is possible, but the farther my tubes go, the more energy I must expend. I will exceed the limits of my solar panels before reaching the other side of the ilmenite expanse.”

  “No. You only have to reach the little iron-sweeping operation outpost along your western side.”

  “Explain.”

  “All right. That place keeps operating at a profit because it has hundreds of those cheap, solar-powered robots with magnets underneath. The robots scuttle around and pick up the microscopic particles scattered all over the lunar surface and bring the filings back to the depot for processing.” He smiled and held his hands out like a magician.

  “Explain better.”

  Stu enunciated each word. “You can remote control those bots to be your hands anywhere on the moon.”

  After a pause, Koku replied, “This has been a profitable exchange, Emissary. Go in peace.”

  “Um … I’d like you to have something as a keepsake.” He removed his wrist computer and locked it into the nearest port. “Bury this data deep in your core. If Sanctuary doesn’t return in one hundred years, would you please make sure this information gets to as many humans as possible? You can read it then, too. It’s sort of like my will. If something happens to us, we leave a couple new planets to you.”

  “This is also profitable. I shall abide.”

  Stu ordered liftoff as soon as he entered the airlock. “Drop a beacon warning all personnel about increased radiation levels in this sector, and let’s hit that hospital ASAP.”

  Chapter 51 – Homeward Bound

  Kaguya faded in and out of consciousness. Her pain only lessened when she traveled Out-of-Body like a ghost. Is this what life is like now for Mo and Sif? In this form, she discerned people as aural patterns, like the false colors in infrared imaging. She knew the three-story ship inside and out from twenty years of fine tuning. Perhaps this was only a trance dream.

  The NERO field hospital had a handful of UN guards arguing to search the saucer, but the Chinese troops refused to let them board through the first-floor airlock. This was not a UN base, so they had no jurisdiction. After the mine scientists, Smokey, and Eowyn disembarked, processing the refugees took several hours. Everyone entering the Earth-facing NERO base had to go through additional decontamination and answer questions about their whereabouts for the previous week. Infectious-disease protocols had been activated. The Seven Seals.

  Then Stu requested that the crew refuel and top off other supplies so the trip home would go smoothly. He was stalling for some reason.

  Her son-in-law sat in the ship’s second-floor common area, below the bridge, trying to make her comfortable. Stu had dark circles around his eyes and looked exhausted. As he mopped her brow with a damp cloth, his bright aura swirled with grief. “You did a great job with this ship. Everything is so efficient. Commander Zeiss is going to be so pleased with everything you’ve done. I already radioed in a successful mission with a slight delay.”

  Across the common room, a man with a commanding presence huddled with Yvette. From his voice, this had to be Oleander’s brother, Colonel Johann Dahlstrom. “It’s been a day since the incident. Wouldn’t she be better off at the hospital?”

  “Stu won’t leave without her. The doctor didn’t see any permanent damage, but Kaguya still can’t see. It may be psychosomatic, a kind of self-punishment for the deaths of the others.” As they chatted, Yvette practiced active-listening techniques on the colonel and touched him frequently. She was flirting! Johann had to be in his early forties and recently divorced.

  I guess after a mind wipe and thirteen years of recovery, she’s ready to try again. Kaguya couldn’t blame the nurse for wanting to be happy or for getting a jump on the competition. Being the odd person out in a completely paired world would be very lonely. As lonely as waiting for your soul mate’s wife to die.

  Kaguya wandered below decks to avoid the echoes of intimacy. Ha
lf of the Chinese soldiers were clustered beside the airlock connected to the NERO base. They were distrustful statues who spoke in their native tongue. One of them was a low-grade Active. From his vocabulary, the Active wasn’t a programmer or scientist. Given the context, that meant he was most likely an Override, a knockoff from the breeding program. The UN had outlawed experimentation with the dangerous Override genes, but old-fashioned baby-making from raw components was considered a basic human right.

  The leader of the assault team, Lieutenant Xiang, froze her blood with his first statement. “The bounty on the Mori bitch has gone up to twenty million Yuan, but she has to be alive to lure out the old man. Dead, she’s only worth five.”

  The largest man asked, “Can we have fun with her first?”

  “Only if we make it the proof-of-life video. She’ll need to hold a dated newspaper in her mouth like a dog bone,” Xiang joked. After his men chuckled, he continued, “Right now, we ask to accompany their team to the biosphere one more time. They owe us for our assistance and the loss of our shuttle. We tell them the viruses are everywhere now on Earth and beg asylum. That much is true. Officials have already begun the first phases of quarantine.”

  “The blonde in charge told us Sanctuary wouldn’t allow us entrance. There’s an upper limit to the supportable population.”

  “Then we shoot people until they see it our way,” Xiang replied.

  Startled, Kaguya hopped back to her body. Eight heavily armed men against fourteen Sanctuary citizens—no, twelve. Two of the crew members were still outside fueling, and she felt useless.

  If even one armed pirate reached the interior of Sanctuary, where the Magi had banned weapons, they could take over the entire biosphere. She had to stop them before that.

  Oleander had the only gauss rifle. Her brother might have a sidearm. Had the sneak suit been buried with Sif? From the audible tower chatter, the reinforced cockpit door remained wide open. She had to act quickly to keep the pirates from winning. She had to limit the hostages and close that cockpit door.

  Pulling Stu closer, she whispered in his ear, “Collision drill, now!”

  “What? You’re delirious. Relax. We’re taking you home,” he replied gently.

  “Chinese are Trojans. Pirates. One is an Override. Trust—” Her watch beeped a warning. “Sneak suit!”

  She hadn’t spotted the man while she was Out-of-Body. The Chinese had crude, bulky sneak suits, too big for urban usage, but their assassins wore mu shielding to be able to sneak up on Actives. This one had been spying in the common area, probably waiting to make his move on the bridge.

  Stu didn’t turn or overreact in the lunar gravity; rather, he unsheathed the family sword and braced himself against the bed frame. Then he plunged the blade backward into the attacker’s waist, using the pirate’s momentum to increase the damage.

  Kaguya groped for the unseen killer’s throat, hoping her talents could paralyze the spy’s vocal chords so he couldn’t shout for help. When this failed, she released her watch’s electrical charge against his throat. “Shock.”

  Stu pulled the blade out and struck again. Good boy.

  Hot blood poured everywhere, covering her. Dizzy, she fell over. Every death ripped her open with fresh guilt, but if she didn’t face it, paradise would be raped and pillaged by pirates.

  “Colonel Dahlstrom. Sound collision drill,” Stu shouted.

  Dahlstrom slammed the door between the mid and lower levels before climbing up into the cockpit.

  Yvette ran over with a blanket and wrapped the bloody, dead man. “We’ll put him in the freezer.”

  Kaguya covered the blood on her chest by fumbling out an entire stack of blankets.

  Alarms sounded. Though she couldn’t see them, she knew that the lights flashed orange. Alcoves opened all over the outer ring of the ship. She slipped out of her body to watch the drama.

  Just as Stu shuffled into the walk-in freezer with the evidence, several Chinese soldiers leapt into the common room. “What is it?”

  “I was stowing the last of the beef,” he called through a crack in the door. That much blood couldn’t be wiped off, so he was removing his suit. “Ask the colonel.”

  Dahlstrom came over the loudspeaker. “Saint Bernard has been sealed. Because of a health concern, all Earth landings have been suspended. All crew at the base are reassigned to the refugee ships coming in. We’ve been ordered to clear the pad immediately. All personnel, strap in to the nearest open crash alcove. Prepare for emergency liftoff.”

  Use the plague story against them, right. Back in her body, Kaguya belted herself into the foldout bed where she lay. That one act filled her with such nausea and self-revulsion that she was forced out of her skin again.

  Yvette turned up her suit heater and hid in the freezer for another opportunity.

  Stu came out of the freezer unarmed. He helped the Chinese and several NERO crew members snap into safety harnesses recessed into the walls around the rim of the craft. Once the airtight door closed, each bay doubled as an escape pod that held up to three people. Kaguya noted the bay numbers.

  After two soft thumps on the hull, Dahlstrom announced, “Decoupling complete. Launch in ten … nine …”

  Stu climbed into a harness of his own.

  At “zero” the acceleration pushed her down into the bed so hard Kaguya could barely breathe. With her arm weighing as much as her entire body, she fumbled for the intercom. “Eject. Pods. Six and seven.” Three enemies and one valued specialist occupied those pods as they blasted away from the ship. That would improve the odds. This close to the surface, the escape pods should survive … unless they hit the power station. I might have accidentally killed them or someone on the lunar surface.

  She would have searched the lower escape pods for more pirates to eject, but the seizures from the Ethics feedback felt like someone had turned on a blender inside her skull.

  ****

  Yvette had vowed not to break her cover, but Kaguya’s screams tore at her. When the ship slowed from three gravities to just over one, she crawled to the locker door to peek out. Blood was seeping from Mori’s mouth. She wasn’t going to make it unless someone intervened. Damn Ethics Page. At two gravities, Yvette could crawl. I could have saved Sanctuary. Instead, I get to rescue the Devil’s daughter.

  Nobody had locked the hatch between levels or adequately mopped up the splatter from the sword fight. When Xiang climbed out of the hatch, Yvette almost jumped. I can’t lie, and he’s going to ask me what happened. She decided on taking the medical route. “You, grab that med kit over there. Don’t slip on her blood. Don’t ask me what she has because I’m not allowed to share her condition. I need sedative, sutures … Hell, bring everything.”

  Stu was out of his straps, already moving toward the first-aid gear.

  While Xiang was distracted, Yvette tucked the sword under her patient.

  “Where are my men from this level?” asked Xiang, sliding his weapon into position.

  “We told you we couldn’t lift that much mass.” Stu shouldered Xiang aside to deliver the supplies to his mother-in-law. “We had to leave three of our own behind, too. That’s as fair as we could make it in under a minute.”

  Xiang couldn’t ask about his invisible man without tipping his hand. “Why such a hurry?”

  “Someone kicked a hornet’s nest on Earth. We need to be clear of the area before we get sucked into the next war.” Stu reached out for the intercom, and his hand paused briefly at the blood there before he tapped the button. “Colonel Dahlstrom, proceed on approach vector …”

  The numbers were meaningless to Yvette. She tranquilized Kaguya. As Mori had helped to design the med kit, there were specially labeled drugs for talents with allergies. One of interest was labeled “for Berserk Overrides.” She palmed that particular syringe for later and prepared for minor surgery to repair Kaguya’s acidic tongue.

  Dahlstrom ordered, “All hands, rebalance the middle level unless you want to shake to piece
s.”

  “I suggest we start by jettisoning the meat locker,” Stu said over the intercom.

  “Roger. That will get us over halfway. Proceed immediately.”

  Yvette nudged Xiang. “Secure that weapon, and haul a few kilos worth of gear over to the bay next to the missing ones. The colonel will tell you when to stop.” We have to give them a chance to comply before using force.

  Xiang appropriated the weapons from two of his men and ordered them to help. He stashed all three rifles by the airlock but kept his pistol, a close-range slug thrower with frangible rounds that could shatter on impact to avoid damaging the hull. The rounds did nasty things to internal organs. The final pirate stood beside the arsenal safe, his gauss gun at the ready. “Just in case the UN ship catches up to us.”

  Stu cleaned up evidence of the bloody scuffle. Then he put on a sterile mask and held Kaguya’s hand. Casually, he tucked the bottom sheet around the sword.

  When Yvette finished with the patient, she took names and medical information from the pirates, trying to detect if any of them could be the Override, who would be just as deadly as a gun in enclosed spaces. Evidence of steroids perhaps, but she didn’t find the tell-tale No Limits tattoo. Any one of them could still have the capability to trigger adrenaline surges and ignore pain. Watching the grace they moved with, they certainly knew more martial arts than she did.

  She asked the three English-speaking pirates if each would be remaining on the Saint Bernard until it departed Sanctuary. They all grunted a “Sure” or “Yeah.” As an empath, she knew they were lying.

  On a medical pad, she typed her summary in German and emailed it to Oleander. Even if it were captured, only the colonel had the authority to read her message buffers. The reply came back, “Tell Stu, no adventures until we have atmosphere.” The rendezvous with Sanctuary would take hours. They were effectively hostages. She gripped the syringe in her pocket the whole trip.

  Chapter 52 – Gravity Boy’s Last Adventure