* * * *
“I think I’ve got the hang of this, Doctor Finch.”
With the doctor’s consent, Sabrina exited the training mod proper and removed her Hybrid. “Sheesh, did you really have to make it so rigorous?” she said with the exasperation of someone who had just completed a marathon. An Earth marathon.
“That depends,” said Finch sternly. “Would you like for something life-threatening to go wrong in the S7-B? You’re our only hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and with a ‘droid down there a helluva lot more dangerous than C-3PO, we can’t afford to lose you to Vader. The Force that he has on the Dark Side is physics.”
“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. And it was just a rhetorical question.” As Sabrina spoke, she casually filled out a digital form in which she reported any physical problems, or lack thereof, with the training segment. She could’ve just told Finch her concerns, but the bureaucracy was a paranoid mistress. “Really, I’m the queen of complaining afterwards, but I’ll do what I’ve gotta do for the truth and for lives.”
He grunted. “Just as long as you don’t get killed because you’re too busy bitchin’. You did well, anyway, kiddo.”
“What did you just call me?”
She could read his mind: Oh, crap, that’s right, I’d forgotten she’d been here so long. Better shut my trap.
So he did, until Sabrina finished the report and rose from her seat. “Thank you, Doctor Finch,” she said, shaking his hand. “Assuming the actual trip won’t involve the same constant stream of trials, there were no issues here that should concern you. Just give the other folks who’ll help me get from here to Earth the memo: don’t patronize Sabrina Lockhart.”
Zolnerowich was waiting for her outside the door. “There you are!” She grabbed Sabrina by the wrist and all but dragged her to the elevator. This place has even more floors?
“Governess, what in –”
“Shut up. We cannot afford to violate the schedule any more than we have, and that means I have to tell what you need to know now.” Sabrina supposed she’d taken too long in training, and why Finch failed to notice this was anyone’s guess, but there was no sense in telling her that. Zolnerowich shoved a PDA in her face, showing a world map of Earth.
“This green dot is the spaceport at which you and your backup will land. Baikonur Cosmodrome, near the Syr Darya in Kazakhstan. Just about a hundred eighty degrees of longitude away from the rogue, which sounds like a game-winner for us, but ours is a shrinking world. Just because public service androids are designed against the risk of dangerous information transfer, if not outright hostile conspiracy, that hardly makes Jane harmless.”
Resenting the windows in an elevator taking her to the three hundred sixteenth floor, Sabrina gulped and took the liberty to ask a question. “Are you sure this isn’t an unnecessarily hasty mission? I mean, sure, stop the thing from getting the backup travelers, but is it worth cutting corners?”
“Yes, yes, it is!” The governess pointed outside to what looked from here like an ant colony. “Please avoid nausea, but I’d like you to look at that civilization, Sabrina. Hundreds of people who need resources. Life’s little necessities don’t just grow out of moon-dust.”
They do out of stardust, but that takes billions of years and this is Astronomy Nerd Sabrina talking.
“No one’s even positive there aren’t other survivors in destitute countries who need us now more than ever.” By now she was almost yelling. “In the time it takes Strange’s crew to do its job and return, who’s to say Jane won’t find the port and do something even worse than landing sabotage?”
The door opened. Sabrina said in her meekest voice, “Sorry, I guess I just don’t estimate time that well.”
Walking with her frazzled mentor into her place of destiny, Sabrina felt that the scariest part of it all was that Zolnerowich had failed to mention two other tiny problems. For all they knew, Jane could be monitoring their plan right now, preparing to strike accordingly. And the maw of the Dethroning just might crunch down on any new humans coming to Earth.
Unnatural Page 20