She nodded. “Yah. I’m thinking this is over my air supply.”
Chapter Thirteen
Quinn stood guard inside the Olympus Dawn’s cargo access airlock watching the activity in the container on the internal optics. After the obvious warning that Parker dropped on them as he escorted them back, Kaycee had suggested that the handler tool up and keep watch on the door. They were short handed until the rest of the crew returned, but if they got lucky, it wasn’t a situation that would escalate.
She wasn’t of a mind to wager on luck as she and Ammo chewed over what might be going on. They sat alone in her quarters.
“All we’ve got is the strange behavior of a passenger and a doctor with multiple personalities,” Ammo said. “That’s really not much.”
“That and some unusual neuro-transducers, but I know it’s not much,” Kaycee said. “Although when the OpsSec Chief gets heavy-handed on us that sets off my short hairs.”
“Yah, mine too, but other than the fact that he smells funny, that isn’t enough to get us into the shitpile.”
“Smells funny?” Kaycee raised an eyebrow. She’d noticed that he had that strange pheromone effect that she recognized from some of the older genetically augmented staff members she’d met at the Shan Takhu Institute. As far as she knew the plusser funk wasn’t common knowledge outside STI.
Ammo nodded and winked. “It’s that reek that some people with power get. Arrogance in a bottle.”
“Yah, he does have that doesn’t he?” she agreed. “What I need to find is some kind of physical evidence that there’s something going on. Something bigger than a station full of strange people.”
“Hey doc, are you near a screen?” Quinn interrupted over the comm.
“Yah, what’s swinging?” she said, thumbing her thinpad to activate her wallscreen.
“Thought this might interest you,” he said as one of the optic feeds opened up. “First thing you need to notice here is they’ve put guards on both ends of the box. Technically, that puts them inside our territory and right outside the airlock I’m standing in.”
“I don’t like that,” she said.
“Me either, but we can always power down the box and they’ll have to leave,” he said. “But what I wanted you to see is what they’re doing in there. Just watch the workers for a minute.”
They were replacing the deck plating that they’d removed to get to the cargo. Several workers were carrying panels into place while others reattached the retaining pins.
“What are we looking at?” Kaycee asked.
“I want you to keep in mind that each deck plate weighs at least 350 k-gram,” he said.
Two workers dropped one panel near where a crew was putting them into place. One of the smaller female workers grabbed the plate and swung it up over her head to hold it in place while the other one pushed the pins home.
“I’d say that’s not normal,” he said. “I could carry one of those, probably. But I’m not a meter seventy and sixty-five k-gram. A few minutes ago, I saw a single one of them carry two panels at the same time.”
“Alright, that doesn’t stack at all,” Ammo said.
“I think it’s obvious they’re from the planet,” Quinn said.
“That’s what I was telling Ethan about Marcus,” Kaycee said, grinning in spite of the glueball that represented. “They have to be Ut’aran.”
“Or they’re genetically engineered,” she said.
“They’d have to be unregistered and that’s almost as massive a nogo as bringing natives up to the station,” the doctor said.
“Yah, but other than the video we’ve got no other proof,” he said.
“I need to get a med scanner on one of them,” Kaycee said, jumping up and bolting for the door. “I’m on my way.”
“How close do you need to get?” he asked as the comm shifted to the shipwide system and followed her out into the corridor.
“A couple meters,” she said.
“They won’t let you do that.” Ammo chased after her.
“One of the natives is standing right outside the inner airlock,” Quinn said.
“I don’t know if I can get much through the closed hatch, even if he was leaning against it,” she said, sliding to a halt at the lift gate and waiting for Ammo to catch up.
“Maybe we can get the door open long enough to scan them before they shove us back in our box,” he said. “How long will it take?”
“A minute at close range,” she said.
“I think we can cover that.” Ammo grinned. “Quinn, honey, you needed to go dancing tonight, didn’t you?”
“I’m not dressed for it,” he said. “But if you’re still on the crewdeck, my leathers are in my quarters.”
“I’m on it,” she said pushing the lift gate closed behind Kaycee. “I’ll be there in two minutes. Be naked when I show up.”
She spun and disappeared back down the corridor as the lift dropped to the mid-deck so she could grab her handheld scanner.
“I am aware of what you are attempting to do,” Marti said. “I have not yet informed the captain, as I also understand your need for hard evidence before you bring it to him. Good luck. And do not get yourself in trouble.”
“Thanks Marti,” she said, jumping out of the lift and darting toward the MedBay. “How are things going down there?”
“Not as well as they are for you, in fact,” it said. “We have encountered a situation that has adversely affected our desire to remain on the surface. Unfortunately, it is another two days before the shuttle returns to bring us back.”
“What’s swinging?” She grabbed her handheld scanner out of the drawer and flipping it open, made sure it had a full charge.
“Without further analysis it is difficult to say with any certainty, but it appears that there have been severe cultural contaminations in the local tribal civilization,” Marti said. “If you confirm the workers up there are members of the Ut’aran race, then we may be looking at opposite ends of the same issue.”
She opened the program screen on the scanner to modify the settings, but she paused. How do I optimize it for an alien physiology that I know nothing about?
“Do you have any access to medical information on the natives down there?” she asked.
“The information in the local AI system files is limited,” it said. “Most of what they know about the Ut’aran physiology they keep in the station and I can no longer access the Watchtower Station network. It appears they have locked us out.”
“Wait. Contamination?”
“There is direct evidence that at least one native was attacked using a stun weapon,” Marti said. “Another individual was terminated by severe blunt force trauma. We do not know if the individuals in possession of the advanced technology conducted the murder, but the unavoidable conclusion is that there has been blatant interference in the social environment.”
“I’ll let you know what we find out,” she said. “Right now, I have to focus on making my best guess to get this scan done.”
“Understood. We are currently traveling with maximum alacrity back to the basecamp. The tension level here is extreme. Especially for the scientists and our escorts.”
“Be safe,” she said.
“Always.”
Shaking her head, she tweaked the settings to widen the range of diagnostic possibilities and closed the scanner.
“Are you still in MedBay?” Ammo hollered from the lounge area.
“Yah. Just tuning the tools,” she answered, leaping through the door.
“Shake it fast. Quinn says they’re almost done in the box and he doesn’t know if the two at the door will hang once they’re finished.” Ammo had what looked to be a dead black animal hanging over her shoulders and was just finishing the lacings on a red corset she’d cinched up around her waist. Somehow, she’d changed into a flesh colored thinskin and for the most part, it failed to cover even the important bits of her anatomy.
Or maybe it’s flesh colored
flesh instead?
It didn’t matter since her intent was to keep the guards’ attention off what Kaycee was doing, and whatever she was, or wasn’t, wearing would certainly do the job. When they got to the inner airlock, Quinn was standing there even more naked than Ammo appeared to be.
Being a doctor, Kaycee was past shock at seeing skin, but it was the first time she’d seen the handler’s physique in all its glory. It wasn’t the skin that held her attention so much as the massive amount of perfectly carved anatomy it covered.
The airlock suddenly seemed far too small an area for that much flesh.
“I’ll wager you didn’t think to pick up some of my silkies, did you?” Quinn asked as he picked up the dead animal from over her shoulder.
“Sorry, you’re just going to have to swing it commando there big boy,” Ammo said, leaning back to either watch the show, or give him flailing room as he shimmied into the tight outfit. The leather creaked and groaned as he pulled it up over his legs and then bounced several times to settle his muscular buttocks into place.
“I think I should wait in the hall,” Kaycee said, surprised at the visceral reaction she was having to watching him get dressed. Not only was the airlock too small, it was getting too warm.
“Coward,” Ammo mouthed in her direction with a wink.
“I’m in fear of being trampled,” she said, refusing to acknowledge any other aspect of her desire to step out of range.
Quinn rocked his shoulders back and snagged the upper part of his outfit, pulling it up and over his chest with a snarling grunt. “That’s the least amount of fun I’ve ever had getting kitted up,” he said.
Ammo grinned. “I’d offer to make it up to you—”
“That’s alright,” he said. “Everybody likes tattys, but they really aren’t my thing. Unless I’ve had way too many beers. And then well, stranger things …”
“I think I’m over dressed for this party,” Kaycee said, shaking her head and trying to get her mind back on their objective. “So, what’s the plan?”
“That’s the easy part,” Ammo said. “Quinn and I will stand in front and try to keep them from noticing you. You should be able to squeeze up behind us and get close enough to get a good scan while they’re trying to figure out what to look at.”
“The one you want to scan is on the left, so let me take that side, and you can shadow me,” he said.
“When the hatch opens, we’ll take a half step forward to make sure they can’t close it on us and then we have to look surprised that there are guards out there,” Ammo said. “If we can keep them thinking we’re just going out for a night of play, they’ll have to take time to explain why we can’t go. Every second counts, so we just stall as long as we can, and if it looks like they’ll get ugly, we give up and retreat. Slowly.”
“Got it,” he said. Grabbing both his stunners, he handed one to Kaycee. “You know how to use one of those, don’t you?”
She flipped it over, snapped the charge chamber open to check the level. Spinning it back over, she popped the pellet cartridge out to confirm it was loaded and slapped it back in. She finished the inspection by jerking the loading armature back to chamber a round.
“Nope, never used one of these in my life,” she said, winking at him as she shoved it down into the top of her thinskin.
It wasn’t the best place to carry a pistol, but she didn’t figure she’d have to be too quick, and she needed both hands on the scanner to make sure she got what she was looking for. Opening it up, she tapped the main screen and brought up the control interface.
“Then I guess it’s time to dance,” he said, keeping the other pistol in his hand and tucking it behind Ammo’s back like he was putting his arm around her. He leaned in tight to conceal that he was hiding something behind her and reached out with his free hand to palm the hatch release. They both stepped forward and Kaycee squeezed in tight behind.
“Where do you think you’re—” the guard on the right said, his voice faltering as he took in Quinn’s giant leather clad frame, or as Ammo’s proudly flying tattys leapt out to say hello. In any case, his brain obviously went offline.
“What’s swinging? I heard there was a party on deck four?” Ammo said, adding a false giggle to her voice. “What’s the name of the place Quinn?”
“I don’t remember, it’s supposed to be a bar.” He shifted to the left so Kaycee could squeeze forward along the wall.
The scanner screen lit up and she held her hand over it to keep it from reflecting off anything.
“What’s it called,” Ammo said, shifting her shoulders. She was trying to keep the guard’s attention on her.
“The Slosh Pit?” he said. The croak in his voice indicating her wiles were working.
“They must to stay on ship,” the other one said. His accent had the same strange click and abrupt syntax as Marcus. His tone also said Ammo’s charms were falling flat with him.
“That’s the place,” she said, shifting to the right. Kaycee pushed tighter into Quinn’s shadow. “Where is it? On deck four, right?”
She uncovered the screen. Forty-five percent complete.
“Yah, but he’s right,” the first guard said. “None of you are supposed to leave the ship.”
“Pa, why you gotta be busting my bag?” Quinn said. “We’re just looking to play slick. Bossman never lets us off the deck.”
That was pretty convincing slango for a ground locked farm boy, she thought. She glanced over at the stunner where he held it behind Ammo and realized that he was flexing his hand. Bad sign.
“Doesn’t matter,” the guard said. “They’re doing maintenance work on the station and only authorized crew gets a pass. You need to go back and party in your own bunks. Nothing I can do to help you on that.”
She looked down at the screen again. Sixty-five percent.
“Eyeball me, pa. There’s no room in my bunk,” Quinn said. “It’s way too squeezy to play.”
“That’s more than I needed to think on,” the guard said, chuckling nervously. “Seriously, there’s not a frakking thing I can do for you. You need to get back on the ship.”
“Cut us a break,” Ammo said, leaning forward and lowering her voice. “This is our only chance to tangle. Captain Tightpants has rules and he won’t let us romp each other on the ship. His AA keeps an eye for him, so we gotta get out of here so we can have fun.”
Eighty-three percent.
“Your skipper’s rules are not my problem,” he said. “Get back inside.”
Kaycee heard what sounded like a sidearm slipping out of a holster and she felt Quinn’s entire body tighten up in front of her. His hand twitched, but he didn’t move.
“Go back on ship,” the other one said.
“You don’t have enough ugly to make that happen, tiny man,” Ammo said, her tone dismissive. “What kind of maintenance would keep us in tonight?”
“The kind that will get your floater-toys all kinds of stunner fun,” the first one said. “Unless you want to go down right where you stand, you need to turn your pretty parts around and get back in your ship.”
Kaycee stole another check of the screen. Ninety-six percent. Another few seconds.
“I am not tiny,” the one on the left said. “You do go now, or it will be ugly.”
Quinn set one of his legs back, bracing himself. Kaycee stepped to the side to make sure that if Quinn had to get physical, she would not be under him when he launched.
Almost there.
“They are not alone,” the tiny one said. “Someone is behind.”
“You in back, what are you doing back there?” the first one said. “Step out here where I can see you.”
“Your little buddy is hallucinating, but we’ll go back inside. It’s not worth it,” Ammo said, leaning even further forward. She had to be almost touching the one in charge and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I was about to invite you to come party with us too.”
Quinn eased back, his thumb snagging the back of her corset and making sure she retreated with him.
“Hold!” he said. “Who’s with you?”
“Ah well, your loss,” she said. “It would have been fun, too. My friend here likes little boys like you.”
The handler slapped his hand on the door actuator and the hatch slammed closed. He locked out the override and just stood there for several seconds shaking his head. “I think I need to go shower. That has to be the sleaziest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“You grew up on a farm, so I’m sure it’s not,” Ammo said, winking. “But you did real well. By the way, where’d you learn slango?”
“My first boyfriend was from LEO-6 and he just loved to talk dirty. I sucked some of it up over time,” he said.
Turning to the doctor, he nodded at the scanner in her hand. “So, did you get what you needed?”
“I’ll have to download it in MedBay, but you were right. He’s definitely not human,” she said.
“We need to tell the cap’n,” Quinn said.
“As soon as I get it sorted out,” she said, glancing at Ammo and raising an eyebrow. “This one also has a transducer implant.”
Chapter Fourteen
Even with a PSE doing the work, jogging in two-G was not a pleasant experience. But the eighteen klick that had taken them four hours outbound, took them just over two to get back. They made a lot of noise and had pushed their Windwalkers hard to keep them safe, but fear trumped everything else.
“My suits eating too much power,” Rene said as they topped the last ridge about two klick from the Rockpile. “I’ve got to slow down.”
“We’re almost there,” Tash said, coming up and turning him around so she could open the back of his suit to access the panel and check the power pack.
“I know, but I’ve been watching the system readouts.” He was sweating and gulping air. “The actuators are hot and they’re pulling too much current. I’ve got to stop a minute and let them cool off or I’m not going to make it.”
Wings of Earth- Season One Page 47