Partners - Book 1 Read online

  A few turns later and they were at a door. “Scan it.” Jess stood back. “Might as well find out if they actually did what they were supposed to do.”

  Dev put her hand on the keypad and the door slid obediently open. She glanced back at Jess for instruction, then walked inside at the slight gesture she received.

  Jess entered behind her. “Listen,” she said. “I have no idea how this is going to work out. You could just be in here for an hour, then be packed back upstairs.”

  Dev nodded. “You don’t think I can do what was requested.”

  Jess let the door shut behind them and then turned, studying the bio alt in silence for a bit. “They train people for years to do this job. You’ve had a week. So no, I don’t think so. Actually I think a lot of people don’t want to think so, because if you could—”

  “If I could, we could replace you,” Dev said. “And we’re cheap and expendable. That’s what they say.” She watched Jess’s face, taking a breath as she suddenly saw an intent personality become present there when Jess looked at her, not through her. She saw more intelligence and emotion in that one glance than she’d ever experienced before. “I don’t know if I can help either. I just have what programming I have and I’ll do the best I can if they want me to try.”

  Jess exhaled. “Yeah well.” She glanced past Dev to the rest of the room. “Lately we’ve been sort of expendable too.” She indicated the room. “Until they figure it all out, you bunk here.”

  Dev looked around at the space. “By myself?” She asked, in a surprised tone.

  Jess twitched a little and looked at her. “What?”

  Dev, for the first time, looked a little off balance. “Sorry.” She peered around. “It’s a big room. It wasn’t like this in the crèche.”

  “No, I guess not.” Jess felt faintly amused. “Okay, well, that’s the sanitary station.” She pointed, then paused. “You know what that is, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Shower and lav in there, you can put your kit in the cabinet.” Jess swiveled around. “Sleep.” She pointed at the bed. “Relax.” She pointed to the left hand side loft. “And work.” She pointed at the right hand side loft. “I’ll leave you to explore. We’ll call you if we want you to come to the comms center. Otherwise, stick around here. It’s easy to get lost in this place.”

  Dev nodded. “Okay.”

  Jess turned to go. At the door, she paused and looked back. Then turned and left without speaking.

  Dev drew in a deep breath, then she let it out. There was so much to absorb, she was glad she had a few minutes at least to just do that. She set the green bag down, then sat in the chair behind the workspace on the lower level, which was soft and comfortable and reminded her just a little of her sleeping pod back in the crèche.

  She sat back and turned it around, regarding this huge space with more than a little bemusement. So here she was. Things were not at all going according to plan, but she’d ended up in this place anyway with all this incredible strangeness around her.

  At the very least, she’d have a cycles worth of stories to tell them back in the crèche if they did send her back. Dev pondered that idea, and decided she really hoped they didn’t.

  JESS DETOURED PASSED the caffeine station on her way back to the strategy center. She put her palm down on the dispenser plate and the system produced a vacuum bottle full of her preference. She uncapped it and took a sip, turning around and leaning against the counter.

  She studied the bottle. By this time she should have been in a scavenger station, trading her jumpsuit for an exposure kit, and if she’d been lucky, assigned to a work battalion down in the caverns harvesting seaweed.

  And at that she would have been one of the lucky, with basic but functional housing and the promise of a meal so long as the quotas were upheld.

  She knew what it was. She had two siblings out there who had done the work. They hadn’t qualified for anything better as youngsters but their family’s tenure in service guaranteed them at least that.

  Those who had neither family connection or needed skills ended up in the out lands, the only shelter there what they built themselves. As for what they lived on? Jess’s face tensed into a grimace. They lived on what they could steal, and being caught out in the out lands was as dangerous to someone like her as taking a trip to the other side.

  So here she was instead, her whole intent reversed. She’d be lying if she said she was sad about it. It was one thing to stand on your honor. It was another to actually like the consequences of that. Jess was self aware enough to know she’d lead a relatively privileged life and she liked it that way.

  It was nice to know she’d likely be lying down in her comfortable bunk tonight rather than on cold stone, or in a rough worn hammock, and she could have caffeine when she wanted and a meal in the ops mess.

  She felt a bit guilty over how glad she was Bain had showed up, brought her back in, then blew Bricker away like he’d been no more than a sea rat caught in the storage silo. A bit guilty, but not too much.

  She’d thought maybe Bain would come in and take charge, make plans, maybe make some changes. Hell she’d hoped he would do that, but outright kill Bricker?”

  Ah, no. More than a little scary. Jess capped her drink and took it with her, heading with no further delay toward the strategy planning center. Outside the door she met up with two of her remaining peers and they all looked at each other in silence for a long moment.

  “Jason,” Jess murmured. “Glad you two weren’t the ones out there.”

  “Jess,” Jason Anders finally said. “What in the hell’s going on?” He was a tall man, with thick brown hair and hazel eyes.

  “Crap all, from what I hear,” the woman next to him said. “Is it true? Bricker’s dead?”

  “They didn’t send a squirt out?” Jess frowned. “Public as it was? Bain splatted him in the middle of central ops for craps sake. In front of some doctor from the bio station on top of it.”

  “No, nothing.” Jason shook his head. “Elaine? You get anything on comms?”

  “Not a damn thing.” Elaine Cruz shook her head. “I just heard something from one of the med techs they sent in there to clean the mess up.” She put her hands on her hips, her rust red hair making her fair skin and green eyes stand out.

  Jess glanced at the door. “Well, you got the baseline of it. I was humping up onto the shuttle when I ran into Bain. He knew everything. Asked me to come back with him, and about two minutes after we got to central he pulled a blaster out and took Bricker’s head off.”

  “Damn,” Jason said. “Just like that? For nothing?”

  “Bain could do it for nothing,” Elaine said. “Who’d stop him?”

  “I didn’t,” Jess said. “I got the feeling it wasn’t just one thing that caused it.” She studied the both of them. “They call you in there?”

  Elaine nodded. “Tucker and Brent are in their quarters. Scared to death. Afraid Bain’s going to do the same to them.”

  Jess turned and palmed the door. “Let’s find out how screwed we are.”

  “Jess?” Jason said, just as the door started opening. “Glad you’re back.”

  “Ditto,” Elaine said.

  The door was open and Jess didn’t answer. She led the way into the strategy center, past the outer chamber with it’s scattering of austere chairs, to the second portal, which was guarded by two members of the security group.

  Jess half expected to be challenged, but the guards merely drew aside and triggered the door for them and the three enforcement agents proceeded inside.

  It was quiet. Stephan was seated near one end of the large plotting table and Bain was in the big leader’s chair at the very end. The table was lit with statistics, and the curved wall behind the table was brilliant with readouts and scans.

  “Ah. There you all are.” Bain said. “Did you get your new colleague settled, Drake?”

  “Yes.” Jess sat down mid table and Elaine and Jason took seats nex
t to her, on the side away from Bain.

  “New colleague?” Jason asked, in a low tone. “What’s that about?”

  “Did you say something, Anders?” Bain asked. “We don’t really have time for idle chit chat you know. Not if we’re going to find some way of getting those two teams back.”

  Jason cleared his throat. “Sorry sir. I was just wondering what new colleague we have.” He returned Bain’s look. “It’s been a sore subject here lately.”

  “So I’ve heard.” Bain stood and leaned on the table. “Perhaps I should explain.”

  Chapter Five

  DEV STUCK HER head into the sanitary facility, entering after a moment and putting her small personal kit down. The space was clean and austere, the stone lined walls with faint flecks of reflectivity in their depths. It was a roughly rectangular space with inset cabinets on both long sides.

  A half wall concealed a lavatory. Dev studied it curiously, reaching forward to press one of the buttons on the top and jumping back a little as she was rewarded with a faint roaring sound. She peeked inside the bowl and saw a moving substance, not the vacuum system she was used to. “Ah.”

  Well, she’d figure that out soon enough.

  With a faint shrug, she went on to the counter, which held a neatly folded set of assorted fabric. She touched the surface of one, finding it soft and nubbly. It was too small to wear and she picked one of them up, unfolding it and releasing a faint, unrecognizable scent into the air.

  Another puzzle. Dev examined the inset bowl next to them, which had a hole in the bottom and mechanisms at the top. She reached out and touched one and leaped back as something rushed out of the pipe at the top and splashed into the bowl with a thick, almost musical sound.

  She searched her programming and found nothing regarding it, but then a deeper memory triggered and she relaxed, recalling something from her basics programming.

  She stepped forward again and hesitantly put her hand under the flow, inhaling a little as it chilled her skin. Her other hand joined it and she rubbed them both together, then she touched the mechanism again. She stood with her hands dripping into the sink for a moment, then with a satisfied grunt, she picked up one of the pieces of fabric and used it to dry her hands off. So this was water, freely running water. “Interesting.”

  She continued her exploration, opening the cabinets and finding more fabric, larger pieces, again neatly folded. At the end of the room was another half wall, and she peeked behind it to find a square space with a drain in the floor. A pipe extruded out with a round, flat head. Curiously, she reached in and touched the controls, letting out a yip of surprise when a blast of water came out of the head and drenched her.

  She batted at the controls and turned the water off, then stood, dripping, her arms held out away from her body a little. She blinked and then shook her head, scattering droplets everywhere. “Ah hah.” She licked her lips, finding that the water tasted a little sweet. Dev decided staying in the wet jumpsuit in the cool air of the chamber probably wasn’t a good idea.

  She unbuckled and slipped out of it, laying it across the counter and then turning to the cabinets and removing one of the large, square fabrics. She wrapped it around her as she bent over to unbuckle and remove her boots, setting them down under the counter as well. Going to her small kit, she removed her comb and ran it through her wet hair, setting it to order.

  Glad to be free of the cold wetness, she used another fabric to dry herself off, then she went back into the main part of the room. This left her in a quandary though, as she could hardly respond to any of the requests that might be made of her without clothes on. She started toward one of the cabinets in the main part of the room when she heard rumbling behind it. A set of bangs and slams sent her back to the sanitary facility, unsure of what was going on.

  A soft chime sounded. “Main stores, provisioning complete.”

  Dev regarded the speaker, then she glanced at the big cabinet again. The doors, previously solid and dark gray, were now turning translucent, back lit with a gentle golden glow. She approached cautiously, opening the front to find a line of dark jumpsuits hanging there and a set of shelves below. She opened the first one, gratified to find familiar looking underwear there. “At least I know what this is,” she muttered. “There’s a lot of stuff they forgot to program about this place.”

  She traded her fabric for the undergarments, which fit neatly, then she removed one of the jumpsuits and slipped it on. It too fit her perfectly, but the fabric was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. It was soft and a little stretchy, conforming to her body and very comfortable.

  It had a collar that extended up covering the back of her neck, and was gathered at her wrists and ankles with many pockets and rip strips to hold things.

  She liked that. The color was dark green with black trims and it had a deep blue ring around the neckline, but no other insignia to it. Almost the same as the one Jess had been wearing, save hers was all black, except that same blue ring.

  She glanced at her reflection in the door mirror, blinking a little at the unexpected outline. She’d pulled the front catch all the way up and the fabric had sealed around her neck, completely covering her collar. A part of her felt a little strange, looking at herself and not seeing that.

  She studied herself thoughtfully, wondering how long she would get to wear the new clothes. Then she shrugged, finding several pairs of boots on the floor of the cabinet and selecting one of them to take back with her to the comfortable chair near the desk.

  She sat down and set the boots next to her. Then she looked around, wondering if—ah. She got back up and went to the counter on the other side of the sanitary room, where she’d spotted a refrigerated dispenser.

  That, in it’s essential form, she knew. In the common spaces of the crèche there were always stations you could get a drink from and they looked pretty much like this one.

  She opened it and was cheered to find sealed containers of liquid and solids. She removed one of each and brought them back to the desk, feeling a luxury all out of proportion as she opened the liquid, finding it clear, clean and apparently water. She unwrapped the solids to discover crispy little crackers that smelled faintly of brine, and were sprinkled with tiny seeds and salt.

  Dev bit into one cautiously. It had an interesting taste and after a few nibbles she decided she liked it.

  She sat in her chair, munching her crackers and sipping from the water, looking around at this inconceivably huge space they’d assigned to her. She could see one side of the upper level had consoles and she brightened, realizing she might be able to practice some of her programming. On the other side was a couch, and what appeared to be a big console, with some shelves and mats. Jess had said something about relaxing up there and Dev considered that maybe she could use it like she had her little cubicle back in the crèche—as a place to sit quietly and maybe read some of her book.

  Everything was so different here, but different in a way she didn’t mind. She finished her crackers and set her water aside, then climbed up to the second level with her book in her hand and sat down on the couch. It had an overhead light and she lay down bathed in it, opening the book and settling herself down to enjoy a page.

  After a moment she looked around, then smiled and shook her head.

  “ARE YOU KIDDING me?” Jason stared at Jess, aghast. “That’s real? They did it? They sent it here? Really?”

  Jess glanced across at Bain, who merely tapped his fingers against his lips in silence. “Well.” She said. “In that they brought a bio alt here, yes. That part’s real.”

  Jason looked at Bain. “Sir?”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you advocating this, sir?”

  Bain regarded him. “You would not?”

  Jason and Elaine exchanged glances. “Sir,” he said in a respectful tone. “We...” Then he paused and a frown appeared on his long face.

  “Caught in a conundrum?” Bain said. “I believe you were just about to
inform me that you have to place great trust in your technical assistants, hmm?” He observed them. “And yet, we do indeed have a trust issue here. You don’t trust your colleagues, you don’t trust your leadership, and quite likely, you don’t trust that I will not blow your heads off as I did Bricker’s this morning. Hmm?”

  The door slid open and Dan Kurok came in. He gave them all a cursory glance, then took a seat on the opposite side of the table from Jess. “Your central records store is a mess,” he told Bain. “I have a query running, but likely it won’t turn up much more than a recipe for chocolate cupcakes.”

  Jess’s eyebrows jerked up at his casual address. She was beginning to wonder who this man was, aside from some gene doctor from topside.

  “And what do you think, Drake?” Bain turned to her. “Do you still disagree with this experiment of ours, having met it’s subject?”

  Jess felt all the eyes on her and she hunched her shoulders a bit in reaction. “Why don’t we talk about what the plan is before we go into that,” she said. “We’ve got four people out there pinned down and in terminal danger. I think that’s more important than how I feel about bio alts.”

  “And yet,” Bain said. “You had her put in quarters adjoining yours. Interesting?”

  “Statement stands,” Jess responded dryly.

  “Very well,” Bain said. “As I was discussing with Bock here, it seems the issue was that your colleagues were attempting an insertion here.” He pointed at a mapping coordinate. “Where they were expecting to find an exhaust station.” He stood and juggled the laser guide in his hand. “What they found were a half dozen armored carriers.”

  “Trap?” Jason asked.

  “Or did they get skunked?” Jess quietly disagreed. “Someone tipped them.”

  Bain pursed his lips. “I think their plans were known,” he said. “As there is indeed an exhaust station at that locale.” He brought up another overlay. “Just as the last mission was compromised—but we thought we knew the information vector there.”