Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) Page 15
As soon as she found her balance on the tilted floor, she held out her hand and helped her brother up.
She peeked into the dim corridor. All the doorways were dark except those of the stairwells on either end. Must be a basement level. She didn’t see anyone, so she climbed out of the elevator. Devin picked up his gun and stepped out behind her.
A soldier emerged from a stairwell. He held up a gun. Devin hit the weapon before he could fire. It flew out of the soldier’s hand and smashed against a wall.
Jane darted into the nearest room. Metal and machinery scattered across its floor. She ran to the door that would lead away from the soldier. It was locked. “Dammit!”
A series of knocks, as if something fell to the ground. What’s that?
Devin grabbed a table and threw it sideways. He pushed Jane behind it and pulled her down as he crouched. A high-pitched mechanical shriek and an explosion of light filled the room.
Jane felt as though someone had stuffed her ears with cotton. She gave Devin a questioning glance.
“Flash grenade.” Devin looked around. He must have dropped his gun.
A weapon’s black form lay just beyond the shelter of the table. Jane scrambled to snatch it. Devin pulled her back, and it fell from her hand.
A slow scrape and a soft thud—boots impacting the ground.
“Did you get it?” Devin mouthed.
Jane nodded and grabbed the gun. She froze as she realized what she held in her hand. “Shit!”
“What?”
“It’s… I have a…”
The footsteps were practically next to them.
“What is it?”
“A blow dryer!” Jane looked at Devin helplessly as she held up the cosmetic device that had looked so weapon-like in the dark. He pressed his lips together as though suppressing a laugh.
The soldier peered over the table. Devin sprang up and threw a quick jab at the man’s throat. The man choked and stumbled. “Go!”
Jane dashed out. A cry—the soldier’s. Devin shoved him back while kicking his leg out from under him. The man fell backward.
The blow dryer was still in her hand. She acquiesced to the urge to hurl it. The device landed near the soldier’s head and turned on, blasting his face with a stream of air.
Jane couldn’t help laughing as she and Devin, who stopped briefly to pick up his real gun, ran out of the room. She rushed toward the front stairwell, heard soldiers’ voices, and spun toward the back.
Commander Vega looked over the weapons officer’s shoulder. According to his chart, one Betta remained. It flashed on the screen and disappeared.
The weapons officer spun toward her. “Hostiles have destroyed the Bettas, Commander! They avoided all attempted strikes and hit each drone with no misses. It was as if they knew the algorithms. Contact Shark Team?”
Commander Vega watched the three triangles representing the hostiles. “No. Activate the cannons.”
Please let there be no one outside.
Jane tore up the back stairwell after her brother. Her muscles ached, and she breathed so hard she felt lightheaded.
She reached ground level and saw light from the open doorway—
Boom.
She couldn’t stop the scream that time. A cacophony of rumbles and cracks followed the explosion, accompanied by distant cries of shock and pain. Shadows of debris splotched the light.
Before she could register what happened, another boom.
“Hostiles are bombarding the—”
“Flame Team! Pull back immediately! I repeat, pull back now!” Commander Vega clenched her jaw to contain her rage and horror. Her troops didn’t stand a chance.
The Granite Flame’s cannons fired at the deep blue Barracudas. As with the Bettas, the hostiles avoided the targeting system.
“Switch to manual targeting!” The officer had probably been correct about the hostiles knowing the Granite Flame’s algorithms. They could predict the system’s moves.
The back of the building collapsed. The comm overflowed with the alarmed voices of the Flame Team as the hostiles continued their assault.
The explosion forced Jane and Devin back down the stairs as the ceiling caved on the ground level. Jane exited the stairwell on the floor below. She sprinted toward the front.
Who the hell is bombing us? Can’t be the Mega, not when there’re soldiers in the building.
The building crumbled behind her. Jane felt as if she, too, would collapse and prayed the adrenaline would kick in before she did. The light from the front stairwell was too bright, and she wondered if the wall had fallen. Devin turned into it. Jane followed a few steps behind. A wave of relief washed over her. The stairwell was exposed.
Three deep blue Barracudas soared over her as she climbed over the broken concrete. What sounded like cannon fire thundered behind her. She cleared the rubble and ran with all the speed she could muster, cursing her body for causing her so much grief. Where the hell’s the adrenaline?
Boom.
A roaring explosion knocked her to the ground in a searing blast of heat. Her back burned as though someone had set it on fire. Looking back took far more effort than it should have. Through her hazy vision, Jane saw pieces of a dark Barracuda mixed with the demolished building. Only a few soldiers stood by the Remoras. She wondered with a heavy feeling where the rest were.
Devin pulled her up. “C’mon!”
Something exploded, and a rainstorm of dark powder fell. The Mega must have destroyed a Barracuda.
Jane fixed her eyes on the Stargazer and ran. She was so close…
There it is.
Her feet flew beneath her. She zoomed toward the ship, scarcely aware of the scorching heat or her bursting heart. The image of the Seer at the landing tripod flashed through her mind. She found the panel he’d used and pulled the lever. The door opened, and the ladder extended.
She barely felt the rungs as she sped into the vehicle. She jumped into the pilot’s seat and slammed her hand against the scanner as her muscles, breath, and heartbeat broke down.
Devin entered behind her—when had she passed him?—and took the copilot’s seat. The viewscreen activated. Jane ignited the engines. Unable to hear her brother’s words over the rushing in her head, she gripped the steering bars with a mad kind of glee. She pushed them forward. The Stargazer launched into the atmosphere.
In the viewscreen’s rear view, the last Barracuda hurtled into the remnants of the building.
Commander Vega listened with growing fury as the Flame Team leader listed the unaccounted for members. Almost three quarters were missing. She kept her face proudly calm, belying her internal rage as she ordered a rescue team to the planet. Only a rubble-filled pit remained where the building had been. Two of the hostiles, upon sustaining damage, had crashed into it. Judging from its shattered state, no one had survived.
“Commander, the target is leaving the planet.”
Commander Vega recalled seeing Devin Colt and his sister enter the Stargazer. She wondered how the target escaped when so many of her people had been buried. “Shark Team! Man—”
“Commander!” The pilot switched the viewscreen to a forward view. The Stargazer flew straight at the warship.
“Move to avoid!” The Granite Flame lurched as the pilot maneuvered it. None of the warship’s many views showed the Stargazer. Commander Vega snapped her face toward the navigation officer. “Where is it?”
“The target engaged lightspeed. It’s out of visual range.”
“Track it!” Incompetent.
“The sensors can’t find them.”
Commander Vega strode to the officer’s station. The screen before him displayed a chart of the Viatian system with color-coded points identifying half a dozen other vehicles.
Chapter 10
Recovery, Discovery
Several hours—Devin lost track of just how many—had passed since Jane so recklessly flew at the Mega. He watched the tracker from the pilot’s seat. The Granite Flame’s probes returned to their mothership. So the Stargazer really was untraceable. He leaned back in relief.
Several minutes later, the Granite Flame left the Viatian system and flew toward the interstellar tunnel at lightspeed.
Finally.
Devin steered the Stargazer, which he’d maneuvered at random to stay out of visual range, toward the tunnel, approaching it from a different direction. The Mega was several light-hours ahead; they’d be back in Kydera before he left the region.
He got up and checked on Jane in the living quarters. She was still asleep in the hammock. She’d been so tired from the chase, poor kid. He still couldn’t believe what she’d done after taking the Stargazer’s controls.
“What are you doing?” Devin had asked. “You can’t fly this thing!”
Jane had ignored him and placed her hand on the scanner.
“Knock it off, Jane!” He’d strapped himself into the copilot’s seat. “This is different from your practice sessions. Stop messing around before you get yourself killed!”
Jane took off, a wild look in her eyes.
Taking the controls from her would have been dangerous, so Devin put his own hand on the scanner. Although he gained some control over the ship’s system, he didn’t have the authority to override her actions. “Jane!”
“Hey, bro!” Jane appeared exhausted and energized at the same time. Her face lit up like that of a child with a new toy. “Watch this!” She flipped the Stargazer toward the warship.
“What are you doing?”
“They’ll move, and then they won’t be able to find us!” She twisted the steering bars forward, accelerating the ship to its maximum sub-lightspeed.
The warship grew larger on the viewscreen. “Stop!” Devin yelled. “This isn’t a game!”
“They’ll move!”
The Mega veered to avoid collision. Devin swiped the control touchscreen, engaging lightspeed.
Jane pushed her hair off her sweaty face. “Yes! They’ll never find us now!”
He was still reeling. “What were you thinking?”
“What do you mean?” She grinned. “I got us outta their sight!”
“There are other ways!”
Jane lifted her chin. “Like what? We could’ve engaged lightspeed right away, but they’d’ve followed, and we’d have to do that stupid ring-around-the-rosie thing you did last time! Besides, who are you to tell me off? You dropped us in an elevator for crying out loud!”
She had a point. A part of him wanted to upbraid her, but he couldn’t help feeling a little proud of his kid sister’s boldness. “All right. Good job.”
Jane collapsed back in her chair. “Thank you!”
“But that’s enough. I’m piloting.”
“Okay.” She stumbled as she got up. Her face looked feverishly red and sickly pale at the same time, and she seemed to have difficulty focusing her eyes.
Devin moved into the pilot’s seat. “I’ve got this. You go get some rest.”
“Aren’t you tired too?”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay, then. I’m gonna pass out now.” Jane had held the wall for support as she left the cockpit.
There had been no dream. Jane had slept more soundly than she’d thought possible. Although her eyes refused to shut again, her limbs felt as though they sank into the creaky hammock. Her body wanted desperately to stay put, but her mind was wide awake.
Bored, she untangled herself from the scratchy—and probably unsanitary—blanket and stood.
Whoa.
Her head spun as though the Stargazer flipped again. She rested her back against the wall, waiting for the feeling to subside.
The world came back into focus. Jane kicked off her high-heeled boots and returned to the cockpit.
Devin sat in the pilot’s seat, concentrating on his slate. Dust covered his black clothing. His wavy hair fell all over the place, some of it stuck to dried blood from a cut near his cheekbone. Jane hadn’t seen her brother, the perpetually groomed corporate tool, looking that messy in years.
He noticed her. “Hey, you’re up. Feeling better?”
“Yup. Good as new.” Lies. Her muscles ached with every move, and her head throbbed as though her brain banged around her skull. The small cuts on her forearm stung with disproportionate pain, as if that chemical still burned her skin.
Devin’s gaze fell to her wrist. “How’s the arm?”
Hurts like hell. “It’s fine. Just needed to wash it off.”
“Let me see—”
“Stop being paranoid! I’ve gotten worse from playing with Klistosian gold-cats.” Jane plopped down in the copilot’s seat. “So, what’s going on?”
“The Mega left the system a while ago. The Stargazer’s on autopilot, heading for the tunnel. Not sure where we’re going after that.”
“What’re you doing?” Jane peered at his slate. A number of windows were open, containing news stories with dramatic titles like “Financial Prince Shoots Father in Cold Blood” and “Tribunal Weighs Evidence in Attempted Patricide.”
“Catching up on the news,” Devin said dryly.
Jane huffed. “They’re all idiots.”
“There’s one about you.”
“Really? Can I see?”
He swiped the slate and handed it to her. An article, titled “Victor Colt’s Daughter Missing,” splashed across the screen. It speculated that Devin’s crime had traumatized her, augmenting her budding psychosis and causing her to run away.
Jane was somewhat amused. “Clearly, they haven’t alerted the media about what happened on Viate-5, or the title would be ‘Dangerous Fugitive Uses Helpless Sister as Human Shield.’ Speaking of which, what the hell was that? The bombing, I mean?”
Devin took his slate back. “Someone covering their tracks, probably the people behind No Name. They must’ve sent the Barracudas as soon as they saw a military ship approach the system.”
“Do you think they crashed into the building on purpose?”
“They didn’t seem too keen on surviving. I’m guessing they were unmanned.”
A message window appeared on the slate.
Corsair: I’m freakin’ amazing.
Jane angled herself for a better view. “Seems chattier than usual.”
“He’s probably using voice commands.”
Archangel: What is it?
Corsair: I found your crazy kidnapper machines.
Jane gasped. “He found Adam?!”
“Just the machines.”
“Still, he’s awesome!”
Archangel: Are you sure?
Corsair: Uh… I don’t make mistakes, remember? Here’s your proof, you doubtin’ nonbeliever. They’re on Travan Float.
Devin opened the attachment.
Several very blurry but, for Jane, unmistakable images of two dark, boxy machines appeared. “That’s them!”
Archangel: You’re good.
Corsair: I’m a freakin’ genius. Do you know how much shit I had to pull to find those things? No one else would’ve even recognized them!
Archangel: Okay. You’re a genius.
Corsair: Thank you. So… Uh… I don’t know where on the float they are. Background’s too fuzzy. Hey, if there were a way to be more precise, I would’ve found it. A float’s better than the entire galaxy, right? Considering the size of the universe, that’s very specific!
Archangel: When were the pictures taken?
Corsai
r: Less than an hour ago. Going there?
Archangel: Yes.
Corsair: Heh. Home sweet home, right?
Jane leaned against the copilot’s seat. “Does he live there?”
“No, he hasn’t been there in ages.” Corsair logged off, and Devin closed the communication window. “Travan Float’s a hellhole, but at least we’re one step closer to finding your friend.”
“And we will find him.” It was only one clue, but it made Jane feel as though everything would be all right. “What’s Travan Float anyway?”
“Travan’s a Fringe system.” Devin rested his head against the back of his chair. “Its planet was rendered uninhabitable by a nuclear war about two hundred years ago, and all that’s left is the space habitat they built when the time came to evacuate. It’s one of the most lawless places in the galaxy. As far as I know, a crime boss called Madam Wrath runs it. She and her predecessors never cared what happened as long as people kept paying. It’s a haven for outlaws.”
“Sounds wonderful.” And like the kind of place for a mad scientist who wanted to replace a seminary student with a robot to hide. Maybe Sarah was there too.
Devin yawned, slouching uncharacteristically. He looked beat.
Jane nudged him. “Hey, bro, your turn to get some rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“Liar. I don’t even remember the last time you slept.”
“I got some shut-eye while we were autopiloting to Viate-5.”
“Well, we’re autopiloting now. Don’t worry. I’ll wake you if anything weird happens.”
“All right.” Devin folded his slate and got up. “No stunts, okay?”