by J. N. Chaney
I opened the door while she phased through the wall and we took off at a jog. She explained what was happening.
“There was an attack on the navigation core,” Iris said. “We assume another Disciple set off the explosion. Watching the video playback, it shows nothing on the screen before the explosion, which leads me to believe that we may have another cloaked intruder on our hands.”
My mind ran through the possibilities. Could at least one more Disciple be on board? But why did they wait this long to make their move? Why did they attack the navigation core when they could have gone after anything?
We ran through the cafeteria level. Only a few Transients remained as they followed Iris’ instructions and headed for their rooms.
“I’ve been instructed to escort you to the tech level where Stacy and the others are preparing to go on the hunt for this new threat,” Iris said as we waited next to an elevator. She placed a hand on the door, and it opened immediately as if the elevator had been waiting for us this whole time.
We stepped inside. Ricky was still following us and also moved to enter.
Iris looked at him and then to me. “I was only instructed to bring you, Mr. Slade.”
“Ricky taught me everything I know,” I lied. “He’s a better fighter than I am. We could use his help.”
“I am?” Ricky’s eyes went wide. “Dean, I’ve never—”
I stomped on his foot.
His eyes widened with pain as she joined us in the elevator. “Dean, I’ve never instructed a student as poorly as I have you. You’re a disgrace to the Cobra Clan. I should go to make sure no one gets hurt.”
Iris eyed us suspiciously. She allowed the elevator doors to shut with us all inside. That was answer enough for me. Ricky would be allowed along for the ride.
We were whisked up to the same tech level Stacy and I visited weeks before when we were looking for a way to track Maksim. This time when the doors opened, we didn’t have to walk through the glass offices and labs. Everyone was in the lobby waiting for us.
Stacy and Arun wore tactical chest plates. Stacy had her blaster out, and I noticed a similar weapon in Arun’s hands. A dozen heavily armored suits were with them, along with Doctor James Wong who stood in the middle of the group explaining something.
Stacy waived us over, after giving Ricky a confused look.
“Thank you for coming,” Arun said to me, looking at Ricky and then back to Iris. “Iris?”
“He insisted,” Iris shrugged. “I assumed it was more important to get Mr. Slade here quickly, then stop to discuss the matter. He also seems to be the founding member of a Clan Cobra.”
“Hello, I’m Dean’s agent, Ricky Matthews,” Ricky said, extending his hand to Arun. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
Arun’s mouth dropped open. She closed it again, shaking Ricky’s hand.
“And this is the most important thing to remember,” Doctor Wong said to the group, capturing all of our attention. “This technology is experimental. Iris will be able to project what she sees on the screen in your headsets. Since the information must be relayed, there could be a slight delay.”
“How long are we talking?” one of the suits asked.
“No more than a millisecond or two,” Doctor Wong said, signaling over to Iris. “The technology I created will capture all motion on The Orion. That amount of data would be nearly impossible for anyone to sift through in real time. Only a Cognitive could make this happen. She’ll exclude any motion from passengers and objects on board until she finds the motion related to our cloaked saboteur. She will then feed that image into our headsets, so you will be able to see it as well.”
Iris joined the doctor as he handed her a dark green data chip. Everyone in the room held their breath as she accepted the data chip in her open right hand. As soon as she closed her glowing blue fingers over the item, the blue light around her shined brighter.
I looked away, covering my eyes to keep it from burning my corneas.
“Iris, are you okay?” Arun asked as the brightness died down.
I lowered my arm in awe, looking at the Cognitive. Her blue eyes were pure white as she sifted through every motion happening in The Orion at once.
“She’s searching now.” Doctor Wong rubbed at his tired, red eyes. “Even if the cloaked Disciple is still, Iris will be able to find him or her through the rise and fall of their chest as they breathe, it’s that sensitive.”
“Oh dear, we have a very serious issue,” Iris said, looking at all of us as her eyes shifted back to their normal blue color.
Chapter 21
The lobby in the tech level was completely silent as we held our breaths to hear what Iris would say.
“I have successfully located every passenger inside The Orion,” Iris said in the calmest tone imaginable. “Except one. I also have a visual on these passengers. There is movement in the Engine room that I cannot see via any external cameras.”
“The Engine room is locked down tight,” Arun said, checking her blaster. “We made sure all critical systems were secured with the most state-of-the-art locking system available at the time of construction. Civil Authority Officers are also standing guard. Whoever is down there won’t get in.”
“Let’s move out,” Stacy told the suits present. She grabbed the headset Doctor Wong was handing out. “We have a Disciple to hunt.”
“Oh dear,” Iris said as Doctor Wong handed me my headset resembling a thick pair of sunglasses.
“What is it, Iris?” Arun asked.
“I’ve been trying to figure out how the saboteur gained access to the navigation core.” Iris looked over at Doctor Wong. “As Arun stated, there were Civil Authority Officers stationed at the checkpoint, which is only accessible by a handful of departments heads.”
Everyone paused as Iris got to the point. Her gaze never left Doctor Wong.
“I was trying to gather information from the blown-out access system. I have finally uncovered that the last person to check into the navigation core room was Doctor Wong.”
Everyone in the room, including me, directed our attention to the doctor. I had to admit, I hadn’t see that one coming.
“Holy shit,” Ricky said under his breath. “It’s always the one you don’t expect.”
“What?” Doctor Wong asked, chuckling nervously. “That has to be wrong. I’ve been working in the lab all morning. You can check the cameras. I have alibis. It wasn’t me.”
“Your credentials were the last to be used to access the navigation room minutes before it was destroyed,” Iris insisted. “The cameras were eviscerated in the explosion, otherwise I would play it back for you.”
“Wait, I can prove it. My secretary Marcy was with me last night. We were working late.” Doctor Wong reached for something in his pocket.
Every suit in the room pointed their weapon at him, including Arun. Doctor Wong looked like he was about to make a deposit in his pants. Maybe he did.
“Please, I’m just reaching for my holo card to call my assistant. She can verify everything,” Doctor Wong said in a shaky voice.
“Go ahead,” Arun said. “But do it slowly.”
Doctor Wong’s hands were trembling as he reached into his white lab coat. Confusion crossed his face as he checked the inside breast pocket, moving to the one on the outside and then to his pants. Nothing.
“I-I swear it was with me when I—”
“It appears the doctor is telling the truth,” Iris said, extending her palm. A holographic screen popped up showing a video of Doctor Wong spread eagle on his desk taking a nap. He was snoring like a hibernating bear.
Marcy appeared in the doorway. She carefully made her way to his side and reached inside his lab coat and removed his card.
“I should have suspected,” Stacy said through gritted teeth. “She was way too nervous when we first came to question you.”
“Marcy, a Disciple?” Doctor Wong asked, total disbelief in his voice. “No, she’s n
ot that kind of person. This has to be wrong.”
“I assure you, the recording is accurate,” Iris said. “Marcy Knot is not currently present on The Orion. She must be the one using the cloaking device.”
“Let’s move,” Arun said, grabbing a headset. “Stacy, warn the officers on duty in the reactor level.”
Ricky and I were handed chest-plates of our own to wear. They were heavier than they looked. An opening for our heads allowed the vest to hang on our shoulders. Synchs on the sides made sure they were snug. They wouldn’t win any awards for style, but so long as they could stop a blaster round to my chest, that’s all I was worried about.
“Iris will have control over the headsets,” Doctor Wong recovered enough to shout to our backs. “Even cloaked, you’ll be able to see Marcy’s movement once your headsets are activated.”
That’s all we had time to hear before we were crammed into an elevator, making our way down to the level. The idea that I should be given a blaster or something this time around, poked at my thoughts. But there was simply no time.
Stacy was trying to get the attention of the suits guarding the reactor. She held her red holo card in her hand, speaking into the receiver.
“Come in unit eleven, do you copy? Unit eleven, please respond, this is Special Agent Stacy Wilson, do you copy?” Stacy said, repeatedly. She pressed two fingers to her right ear, waiting for a response. The grim look on her face told me there was no answer.
The elevator doors opened, and we poured out into the hall.
The pair of suits Stacy had tried to contact, lie motionless on the floor. Each had burn marks on their skulls, signaling the use of a blaster up close and personal. They never have a chance. Marcy had been invisible and on them before they realized what was happening.
One of the suits stopped and knelt to check pulses just to be sure—a formality more than any hope of their being alive.
The engine room was a lower level with a wide, open space. The ceiling reached four stories tall with bright lights that shone down, illuminating the room. Still, there were far too many shadows for my taste. Especially now, as we hunted the invisible Marcy.
There were a series of massive turbines scattered across the room that looked like huge arches. They hummed as they turned, propelling The Orion though slip space.
The elevator next to us opened with Iris, Arun and the rest of the suits exiting.
“I have contact,” Iris said. “Please put on your headsets.”
“Units one and two, guard the elevator doors,” Stacy instructed. “Everyone else, please, fan out.”
I placed the oversized sunglasses on the bridge of my nose, looking through the darkened lenses. Everything appeared in front of me just like before, except it was a shade darker, and there was also a movement like ripples coming from everything that hummed. It almost reminded of the images I had seen of sonar like the way dolphins could see things through the water.
The turbines and a pipe overhead, let off little ripples as they vibrated. Like a rippling pool of water interrupted by someone throwing a small stone inside.
“You two know how to use these?” Stacy came up to Ricky and me, handing us each a blaster she had taken from two of the suits. The suits she relieved the sidearms from looked us over for a second, then turned back to the open room.
“Yep,” Ricky said, examining the blaster, and to my surprise, he seemed like he knew what he was doing.
He caught my look of shock and explained.
“What? I had one of these back on Earth for protection.”
“Right,” I said, gripping the solid piece of steel in my hand. It was heavy with a fat grip and a short barrel.
“Safety on, off,” Stacy said showing me the switch on the right side of her weapon. She pointed to another switch on the left. “Stun and kill. We want to try and capture her to see if we can get more information.”
“Stun it is,” I said, mirroring the two-handed grip on the weapon I saw Arun using.
“And don’t stun me,” Stacy said to me with a half serious, half joking grin. “Actually, don’t walk behind me at all. Let’s go.”
With two pairs of suits at the evaluators, it left the eight others including myself, Ricky, Arun, Stacy, and Iris to travel across the giant room.
“There is movement behind the far turbine,” Iris said to Stacy, who had taken the lead.
Stacy sent four suits to flank from the right and another four from the left. We were going to go straight up the gut.
“Using the cameras in the room, you’re going to see through the turbine to where our cloaked saboteur is hiding,” Iris said.
The view in front of me changed, showing the last turbine on our left as translucent and the outline of a person behind it. The same kind of rippling vibration came from the silhouette of Marcy Knot.
From what I could see, Marcy’s outline was crouched low. If she did have a weapon, I couldn’t see it. I also couldn’t see what she was doing right now.
“Marcy, this is Civil Authority Officer Stacy Wilson,” Stacy said as we made our way forward. “There’s no way this ends well for you. We have tech that allows us to see your every move. You’re already surrounded. Deactivate your cloak and come out with your hands where I can see them. I won’t ask you twice.”
There was no response. The second turbine where Marcy was hidden, was still fifty yards from our current position. I could see the form of her turn as she heard her name. Initially, there was no attempt to obey Stacy’s words. Then she shifted, and to my surprise, she stood up, deactivating her cloak like Stacy asked and put her hands in the air.
I traded confused looks with Arun.
I gripped my blaster tighter and made sure to keep my finger off the trigger. I was pointing it at Marcy like everyone else in the room, but I was sure I didn’t need to. There were a dozen barrels pointed at her, and most would be better shots than me.
Marcy was wearing a black cloak just like Maksim’s, and a crimson mask hid the lower half of her face.
“You’re too late,” She shouted over the humming of the turbines. “Do what you will to my body. You are too late to save your precious ship.”
“On your knees!” Arun shouted as we advanced. “On your knees right now!”
Marcy obeyed with her hands still in the air.
“We will all be lost to space, wiping this Eternal experiment off the pages of history,” She was saying all the right Disciple mumbo jumbo, but her voice was off. It was like she was saying what she knew she should say, without really believing it herself. She was still that nervous, scared woman I had met in Doctor Wong’s office.
I’m not sure what came over me, but I knew Marcy wasn’t the animal Maksim was. I could see it in her body language and hear it in her voice.
“Marcy,” I said, increasing the speed I walked. I came alongside Arun and Stacy in the lead and lowered my weapon. “Marcy, do you remember me? I came in with Stacy to talk with Doctor Wong a few weeks ago.”
“The Eternals must be punished. All who follow them must also suffer. They know—”
“This isn’t you, Marcy,” I said, closing the gap. She was only ten yards in front of me, and she was shaking from fear. Her voice quivered with every false word she spoke.
“What are you doing?” Stacy whispered. “Get back.”
I ignored her.
“I’ve seen killers. I know what people who genuinely want to hurt others look like,” I said as I walked so close to Marcy, I could reach out and touch her. I handed the blaster behind me to Ricky. “That’s not you, Marcy.”
“I-I have to—I have to do this,” Marcy said as tears welled in her eyes, rolling off her cheek and disappearing into the handkerchief that covered the lower half of her face.
“There’s kids on board,” I said to her, kneeling to look into her eyes. “Little boys and girls who are just happy to sit down at lunch and eat barbeque with their grandma. For whatever sins you think others are committing, don’t punish
them.”
I’d spent enough time hurting people. I wasn’t sure if I could get through to Marcy, but I had to try. I knew if the image of that little girl eating her barbeque could get through to me, it could reach anyone.
“You don’t understand. I have to,” Marcy looked up at me, unable to stop the tears. “They have my—my family back on Earth. If I don’t do this, they’ll k-kill them all. I’m so sorry.”
Both of Marcy’s hands were behind her head while she spoke. She lifted her right hand ever so slightly. A small remote with a red button on top was clenched in her fist.
“If you survive this tell, my family I love them, and I did this for them,” Marcy said.
“Marcy, no!” I screamed as I sprang up and tried to reach her before she could hit the detonator.
A suit shouted something out. “We have a bomb next to the turbine it’s—”
BOOM!
Whatever the suit was about to say was lost in the explosion.
Chapter 22
The ringing in my ears kept me from hearing anything, but I knew people were screaming. There was a suit on fire, writhing on the ground and trying in vain to put out the flames consuming his body. Others were lying dead, scattered on the ground, too close to the explosion.
Marcy lay in a clump, thrown further than I was, and she wasn’t moving.
Ricky grabbed my arm trying to get me to my feet. His mouth was forming words I couldn’t hear, and he had a panicked look in his eyes. My hearing started coming back as he screamed something at me again. By the tone of his voice, I could tell this wasn’t the first time he had said it.
“We have to go!” Ricky said, dragging me up and shoving me toward the elevator. “The ship’s going down.”
I heard what he said, but it still didn’t register. The Orion was a colony seed ship the size of a small moon. It wasn’t going to go down from an explosion this size.
As if to argue with me, the ship trembled, and I nearly lost my footing.
Arun and Stacy were helping the injured suits make it to the elevator, and I half ran, half stumbled toward the elevators with everyone else. The injured suits were screaming in pain as Stacy and Arun shouted out orders.