“Bring her voice to your people. Make ready.”
“I don’t know how I could ever make them understand this. It’s not like I can show them the things you’ve shown me. All I can do is describe it. How can that ever be enough? They won’t see it the same way. They’ll want to protect themselves. They’ll want to stay in hiding, here, where we’re safe.”
“You will convince them. There is no other way. Safety is an illusion. You know this to be true.”
“I…do.”
“You must go. Your companions have need of you. Tell them of this, Dr. Jane Holloway.”
“Ei’Brai—I—you should call me Jane.”
“Without your earned title? I will not be so disrespectful as this. Shall I call you Dr. Jane?”
“No. It’s a gesture of—”
“Ah. Friendship. I see. Quaint. You will understand if I insist on using my own title?”
She let out a single, baffled laugh at this.
Indignation rolled off of him in waves. She could see plainly in his mind that the prefix Ei’ indicated his high status and rank, earned over many years of faithful service. “Of course. It’s short and to the point.”
“Indeed.”
She withdrew slowly, tentatively, feeling her way back, and gradually became aware of jostling movement and discomfort. There was something hard jammed into her midsection. Was she upside down?
“Aughpf,” she wheezed, trying to orient herself. A hand tightened…on her ass? “What the—?”
“Sh,” someone hissed in the dark.
Apparently she was being carried, bodily, over someone’s shoulder. That person stopped moving and stooped. She slid down slowly, becoming aware, as she did, of a familiar, masculine scent. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light, but she already knew she was face to face with, pressed tightly up against, Alan.
His bearded cheek slid over hers, his breath warm against her ear. Good grief, he feels good. She hadn’t been held like that for far too long.
“Are you ok? You were out for hours,” he whispered. He sounded worried.
She answered in kind, a million questions tumbling over themselves inside her head. Why was he carrying her in the dark? Why was he embracing her so ardently? Why did everything change every time she turned around? Where the hell were they? That one, at least, she thought she might be able to answer. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. What’s going on? Why were you carrying me?”
“It’s Walsh. I fell behind, but he’ll notice soon. He’s flipping out, Jane. He wants to retreat to Mars already. He’s trying to get us back to the capsule, but, well, I think you know you’re the only one who can do that. We’re lost. He’s tried several times to use the deck-to-deck transport, but he has no idea how to select the right deck. He—”
“Keep up Bergen!” Walsh’s voice rang out sharply. The light from a flashlight blinded her momentarily. She heard some quiet cursing and heavy boot steps, heading their way.
Alan squeezed her tightly and murmured in her ear before releasing her, “Careful, Jane. Walsh doesn’t trust you.”
“What? Why?” But there was no time for him to answer.
“So, Holloway, what do you have to say for yourself, now?”
She drew herself up straight and turned away from Alan, shielding her eyes with a hand against the glare of the flashlight that Walsh had aimed directly at her face. She had a quick insight into why this hallway was dark—Ei’Brai did not approve of this excursion. “Why does that sound like an accusation, Dr. Walsh?”
“What have you been doing all this time?”
She took a step toward Walsh. He tensed, his posture defensive. She slowly reached out and pushed down on the flashlight, aiming its bright focal point a little lower, so she could see. “I was doing the job I was recruited to do—communicating with our host. What about you? I thought we agreed we were going to make camp in the medical facility?”
“Things have changed.”
Jane darted cautious looks at the others. They all looked uneasy. Walsh was adroitly using his military background—they were more comfortable with his leadership style. Technically, she was supposed to have taken command under any scenario where the Target was inhabited, but all that changed with the new orders from Houston and he was capitalizing on the lack of a clear chain of command. Nothing had gone according to any of the plans they’d laid out at Johnson. Nothing.
“I didn’t know you were such an impatient man.”
“Not impatient. Practical.”
“Is that why we’re eleven decks away from the capsule?”
Walsh’s eyes narrowed. Jane studied the others’ reactions. Was there hope they’d hear her? Alan stood behind her. He’d warned her; she could count on his support. Gibbs looked conflicted. Ajaya was watchful, frankly assessing the situation. Tom seemed strange, blank.
Walsh spoke, distracting her from Tom. “Am I supposed to believe you know exactly where we are? Just like that?”
“I know precisely where we are. This level is primarily crew quarters.” Jane gestured at a nearby door. “Through that door is a cafeteria.”
Walsh nodded at Gibbs, who then cautiously opened the door, then stepped inside. The lights came on, illuminating a vast room full of an eclectic mix of tables and chairs of various shapes and sizes, in the same murky green as everything else in the ship.
Jane took a step toward Walsh. “Is this exploration or escape?”
Walsh’s lips tightened. No one said anything.
“Escape, then. From what, exactly? There’ve been no threats from the alien—quite the opposite.”
“I disagree.”
“What are you basing that opinion on?”
“This is pointless. I have no way of knowing if I’m even talking to Jane Holloway.”
“What are you talking about? That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it? You said yourself he’s inside your head. Even if you’re you, there’s no way you can be objective.”
“That’s simply not true. Look, you haven’t given me a chance to explain anything. There’s a lot as stake here. This is bigger than all of us. Bigger, even, than Earth.”
“I’m sure it is. I’m sure he’s told you how he’s a victim of circumstance. How he needs your help to survive.”
“He—I….” Jane took a step back, nonplussed, and glanced at Alan. He had a thunderous expression on his face.
Walsh pressed his advantage, “He’s told you you’re special, you’re the only one who can make a difference, you have to convince everyone what he says is true. He hurts you and then he makes it better? Right?”
“You don’t know what he’s said to me,” she retorted hotly, trying to mask her confusion while she figured out what was actually happening.
“It’s classic Stockholm conditioning, Holloway. I can see it all over your face. Everything I’ve just said is true.”
“You’re twisting everything before I’ve even said a word. NASA—”
Walsh spoke over her, cutting her off. “I’m trying to protect you. I’m trying to protect all of us. I don’t know what that thing wants. None of us do—least of all you.”
“It’s not like that, dammit! I’m not going to allow you to discredit me this way. Is this going according to plan? No. I can understand how that would make you uneasy. You aren’t in the loop. You don’t know what’s going on. That’s scary. I get that. But, we can’t run away from this. We can learn so much from him. This is an opportunity of a lifetime—”
“It’s going to be a very brief lifetime, if we stay here,” Walsh cut in acidly.
Bergen surged forward. “Quit bullying her. Let her talk.”
Jane grabbed him by the arm and pushed him behind her before things escalated out of control. She filled her voice with conviction. “Listen to me—this ship has been vacant for decades. There’s been no one here to perform routine maintenance, so some things have gotten out of control. We can work around that. We can perform the maintenance, if necessary. We can still do what we came here for—we can learn about the technology. You’re all capable of meeting this challenge. You’re experts at the top of your fields—electronics, computers, engineering. I think that if we worked together, diligently, we could learn to fly this ship. We could take it home, with his help. We don’t need to shut ourselves up in the Providence for another year and a half. We don’t need to run. We can do this. This is why we’re here.”